Update: Tech website Fudzilla has recently reported that Nvidia plans on bringing its Nvidia Shield console to Europe in September. We have reached out to Nvidia to confirm.

If the Nvidia Shield already sounds like a familiar name, that's because it is. Nvidia has used the Shield moniker a couple times before, with its Shield Portable and Shield Tablet.

But the Shield console is different from its predecessors, both in its form factor – obviously – but more importantly in its intentions.

This is the world's first-ever 4K Android TV set-top box, and the first widely offered streaming device that's capable of handling Ultra HD. That means, unlike the Roku 3, Chromecast or even Amazon Fire TV, you can actually connect this to a 4K TV in your home, throw on Netflix or YouTube, and be treated to stunning 3,840 x 2,160 resolution content.

Where the Shield Portable failed to capture the Nintendo 3DS's spot in our pockets and the Shield Tablet a spot in our bags, the Nvidia Shield is attempting in earnest to claim a space beneath our TVs.

The craziest part? The Shield pulls it off. Well, sort of.

Whether you need Nvidia's game console inside a set-top box of the future comes down to three simple questions. "Are you interested in the Nvidia Grid game streaming service?"; "Do you mind spending $199 (around £130, AU$255) for a faux-gaming system?"; and "Do you even have a 4K TV?"

(Unfortunately for those of you in Europe, Nvidia tells me that the Shield will release there in Q4 2015, and pricing will be announced closer to launch.)

Answering yes to any of those questions means you'll find something about the Nvidia Shield to latch onto. Answering yes to all three means you can give up the search for a set-top box. The Shield is exactly what you've been waiting for.

But maybe you can't see yourself enjoying gaming on a micro-console with a limited library of PC-quality games, or you've decided that you're not ready for 4K yet (or more likely it's not ready for you). In either case, then you should probably save yourself some cash and buy one of the half-dozen other equally good, if not a hair more complete, set-top boxes.

Design

Streaming set-top boxes, by and large, look exactly alike. They're usually inconspicuous, black little boxes no bigger than a CD case and either look like a rounded puck, like the Roku or Nexus Player, or a deck of cards, like the Amazon Fire TV or Apple TV.

Some will find its off-kilter design endearing, while others might think it enraging, and others still will be left slightly perplexed.

On the top of the obelisk-like device, you'll find an Nvidia logo, a touch-capacitive power button in the top-left corner and a green, v-shaped LED that lights up whenever the system is on. Spin it around back, and you'll find plenty of ports: Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, Two USB 3.0 (Type A) ports, micro USB 2.0 and a microSD slot.

And that's only the outside.

Hardware

Inside, the Nvidia Shield is packing some serious plastic: a Tegra X1 processor with 256-core Maxwell GPU, 3GB of RAM and, in the base package, 16GB of internal storage which can be upgraded via microSD.

If you plan on downloading more games than you have time for, consider stepping up to the 500GB version, available for $299 (around £195, AU$385).

The Tegra X1 processor makes the Shield the fastest, most powerful set-top box to date, only bested by the Xbox One and PS4. On top of being excellent gaming machines, those consoles host a bevy of streaming services themselves.

What does a faster processor mean in terms of performance? You can play better looking games, apps and menus load faster and videos, especially those in Ultra HD, will buffer without issue as long as your internet connection is up to snuff.

The Shield also comes with a single controller that looks, at a distance, almost like a mix of the Xbox One and PS4's gamepads. It has two in-line control sticks, four face buttons (A, B, X and Y), two sets of shoulder buttons and a directional pad.

Even more interesting than the Micro-Sony mix of controls, however, is the decision to include a 3.5mm jack on the top of controller for headphones, a volume rocker along the bottom edge and a micro USB port for charging.

The controller isn't exactly the most natural-feeling pad I've ever come across. But when it came down to a firefight, the paddle pulled through.

In TechRadar's review package, Nvidia also included the optional remote, available for $50 (around £30, AU$65). It's slimmer than both the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Roku 3's remotes, but doesn't come off as cheap or flimsy. Like the controller, it has a volume slider, which is a nice addition over the Nexus Player's pad, but lacks a play/pause button.

Content and streaming

It's impossible to talk content on the Shield without acknowledging its underlying OS, Android TV. In the time since the Nexus Player's launch, little has changed for the better and it's mostly the same system I saw six months ago.

Content is displayed in large, image-heavy blocks with recommendations appearing at the top of the home screen and individual rows for games, apps, settings, search and the Shield Hub. Here, you'll find the launching pad for Nvidia Grid , Android TV downloadable games and games available to stream from an Nvidia GeForce GPU-equipped PC.

The main event, of course, is the 4K content, available either through YouTube or Netflix. (Editor's note: We were not able to test Netflix 4K streaming, as it requires a TV that supports HDCP 2.2 to stream UHD content.)

YouTube in Ultra HD is absolutely gorgeous and works – like you might expect for a system with download speeds of 125Mbps – near flawlessly. While I wasn't able to test 4K content on Netflix for this review, I've seen the feature enough in press demos to know that it looks as sharp and rich as you'd expect. Of course, your mileage will vary greatly depending on your Internet connection speed.

Flexing your thumbs on Nvidia's game console hybrid can be done in three ways: game streaming from Nvidia's cloud streaming service, streaming games from a nearby PC wirelessly or playing games local to the Shield itself. The latter are essentially Android games adopted and approved for the big screen. Some can be played with the remote, but most, however, require you to use the controller.

As I hypothesized in my Nvidia Grid hands on review, streaming works better when the system has a wired Ethernet connection. Dropped frames still happened occasionally during first-person shooters, like Borderlands, and fighting games, like Street Fighter x Tekken, but they happened less frequently and with fewer consequences than when I tested the service on the Nvidia Shield Tablet.

The selection of local downloadable content is a bit sparse at the moment, but it's not completely devoid of good games. Valiant Hearts, Goat Simulator, Hotline Miami and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars are all available right now to download and play.

Android TV

Android TV's biggest fault is that it's still missing most of the big-time streaming services. Amazon Prime Instant Video is still MIA and HBO Now, while announced, has yet to make an appearance on the console.

The Nvidia Shield isn't the first set-top box to be lacking in the content department, but something about its minimalist interface makes the small app library seem even smaller.

It doesn't help that the recommended content bar isn't all that good at discovering new content. Watch a cooking show on Sling and, instead of recommending you YouTube videos on how to cook or movies from Netflix about cooking, it shows you new movies on the Google Play store that are completely unrelated to what you're doing. It's slightly better at recommending games, but it was rare that Android TV actually pointed me in the right direction.

Where it points 99% of the time is to paid content from the Google Play store, even when you're trying to find a movie you know is available for free on Netflix. Is it fair for Google to push its own content first? Sure. Does it make for an egalitarian or even user-friendly system? Absolutely not.

It's not all bad, though. Android TV was the first system to offer real-time info on the TV shows and movies you're watching. Plus, it has an excellent search function that returns relevant IMDB pages that often lead to unexpected and interesting places. And while the amount of native apps are a bit sparse, you can always stream content from any one of the hundreds of iOS or Android apps that support Google Cast.

We liked

The Nvidia Shield's design, both inside and out, is completely different than anything available today. It's faster than the traditional set-top boxes we've grown to love and holds the title of the first Android TV device capable of 4K streaming.

This box also has the best selection of games, bar none, thanks to its ability to stream from the cloud, a local PC or download full games from the Google Play store. A high-end processor and plenty of memory means your games will never suffer from severe slow down. And while the 16GB version can run out of room quickly, the expandable microSD card slot means installing extra storage is a breeze.

We disliked

While the specs are spot-on, Android TV, however, is still a mixed bag. First-party content from Google ends up at the top of most results, and the recommended content section usually fails to provide anything substantial.

And at $199 (around £130, AU$255) for a 16GB version, it's double the price of its closest competitors, the Amazon Fire TV and Roku 3. The silver lining is that you're getting more power and game selection for the price, but whether that content is worth the extra money up front is another question entirely.

Final verdict

The Shield is one part set-top box and two parts gaming system. The latter is better and more functional than the former, but even the former is not without its benefits. More limiting, however, is the fact that Netflix in 4K only works with TVs that are HDCP 2.2-compliant. At this time, TVs packing this content protection software are few and far between.

But while native content isn't necessarily Android TV's strong suit, it does benefit from the hundreds of Google Cast-ready apps available on iOS and Android phones and tablets.

There's a lot of potential in the Shield, thanks to its killer specs. But until Google gets Android TV's act together by curbing its urge to push first-party content and working with developers to create more native apps, the Shield will stay a "good, but not great" addition to growing number of set-top boxes trying to dethrone Roku from its top spot.

Introduction

Update: PS4 is finally getting a media remote! It will arrive in October and cost $30 (about £19, AU$40).

Ten million gamers can't be wrong: The PlayStation 4 is the future of gaming. And why wouldn't it be? After all, the PS4 has a legacy of greatness.

The original PlayStation served as the launching pad for a generation of gamers, which was followed by the PlayStation 2, one of the longest-running consoles of all-time. The PS3 won the format wars and made blu-ray the standard HD video storage medium and the PlayStation 4, even though it's just now turning a year old, may very well leave behind a legacy of its own - one built on the pillars of sharing, streaming and connecting.

The path to greatness wasn't one without pitfalls and throughout it all its greatest contender, the Xbox One, has been hot on its heels, just waiting for Sony to slip-up. To paint a mental picture, the PS4 release date was November 15 2013 in North America and 29 November 2013 in Europe, and it's been outselling the Xbox One ever since.

As of July 2015, Sony's sold over 23 million consoles while Microsoft's moved only about 13 million units from the factory to store shelves.

The one area that Sony was failing on, system-exclusive games, has recently taken a turn for the better thanks to the launch of Bloodborne and the continued success of Killzone: Shadow Fall and Infamous: Second Son. What's more encouraging are the sure system-sellers like Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Street Fighter V and No Man's Sky are quickly approaching with even more first-party games bound to be shown at E3 2015.

At least we've seen an attractive price point from day one. Sony started the PS4 at $399 and has held firm while Microsoft has shifted every which way before settling at $349 without Kinect. Whatever Microsoft seems to do, however, it doesn't seem to be enough to slow Sony's roll.

Are you ready to join PlayStation Nation? Read on to get our full thoughts and opinions on Sony's dream machine, one year in the making.

Design

One year out and Sony hasn't made any tweaks, fixes, or modifications to the PS4's initial design. That said, Nyko and Power A have come along to offer additional products like intercoolers, clip-on charging stations and even external hard drives, but Sony's rock-solid design has stood the earliest test of time. Here's what we said about the design one year ago:

One look at the PS4 and you know you're seeing Sony hardware. It's slim, sleek and jet black, roughly the size of a second generation PS3. The full measurements are 275 x 53 x 305 mm. It's a bit more compact than an Xbox One, which is longer and taller at 274 x 79 x 333 mm.

What's crucial here, though, is that Sony kept the PS4's weight to a manageable 6.1 lbs and tucked the power supply inside the system, leaving no external power brick to trip over. Microsoft's system has held onto its external power adapter - a feature inherited from the Xbox 360 - and weighs in at a slightly heftier 7 lbs.

The shape of the box is familiar, yet completely unique. Its slim, rectangular features brings to mind a PlayStation 2 in form and function, but its sloped, asymmetrical design helps us understand that nothing like this has ever existed before now. It's meant to lay flat but, if your media center can only accommodate a vertical machine, Sony has a plastic stand it sells separately for $14/£16.99 that helps the system stand up straight.

On the front-facing side you'll find a slot-loading Blu-ray disc drive and to its right two powered USB 3.0 ports, which can charge your DualShock 4 controllers even when the system is turned off and are used to sync controllers when taking gamepads from one place to another. Spin the system around and you'll be met with an HDMI, Ethernet and a digital optical audio out port, as well as a proprietary auxiliary connection for the PlayStation Camera.

PS4 specifications

Inside, the PS4 is all business. It has a custom single-chip processor that combines an eight core x86-64 AMD "Jaguar" CPU with a 1.84 teraflop GPU based on AMD's Radeon tech. That's backed by 8GB of mega-fast GDDR5 RAM, and a 500GB mechanical hard drive.

You can also remove that 500GB drive and replace it with a larger drive, or an SSD for better performance. Sony says these do it yourself upgrades will not void the system's warranty.

For a reference point, the PlayStation 3 packed 256MB of XDR Main RAM and 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM, and managed to support visual feasts like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension during its final days. How does that stack up against the PS4? Overall, Sony claims that the PS4's overall performance is ten times that of the PS3.

For wireless connections, the PS4 uses 802.11 b/g/n for WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 for its wireless DualShock 4 controllers.

Features

If there's a team that works harder than Sony's internal development team, we'd like to meet them. As it is, they roll out monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) updates that drastically change the interface and feature set of the system.

The biggest changes of the past year? The Sony-exclusive rental streaming service called PlayStation Now, PlayStation Music powered by Spotify, Remote Play, Sharefactory and Share Play. Of course there have been myriad minor changes like the ability to turn off HDCP, play games while they're downloading, upload clips to YouTube and set themes and background images for the home screen in that time as well. Oh, and mature programming lovers can get their fix anytime with the new HBO Go app that has been absent up until March 2015.

All of these features can be found sporadically throughout the new PlayStation Dynamic Menu, the primary GUI of the PS4. It's capable of delivering games, movies and TV shows into your home at lightning speeds as well as connecting you to your friends and other online gamers through the PlayStation Network (when it's working). Remember to use the ability to post to Twitter and Facebook to share your best brag-worthy gaming moments and, if you're feeling outgoing, you can stream to Twitch here too.

What's in the box?

Unless you're buying one of the new holiday PS4 bundles, you can count on seeing the following items in addition to your stylish black box: a power cord (not a big power brick), an HDMI cable, an earbud microphone combo, one DualShock 4 controller and its charging cable (we charged our DualShock 4 pad using the Xbox One and the world did not end).

Extra controllers don't come with another charging cable, so don't lose that one. Also, note that we said earbud singular, not earbuds, as in just for one ear. It's cheap but serviceable, but you can actually plug any old headset or pair of buds you already own into the controller's headphone jack, so it's not much of an issue.

Setup

Set-up largely remains unchanged from Day 1 and should look relatively familiar to anyone who's owned a PS3. Once your system's all plugged in and booted up, your new PS4 will ask to connect to internet. It wants that 300MB day-one patch, but it doesn't need it for offline play. You are able to skip WiFi or ethernet altogether and just pop in a game. Unlike the Xbox One, you can get to the homescreen without initially connecting to the web and patching.

Once you do connect to the internet, you'll need to let the PS4 update before you can make purchases from the store or play online. Just make sure you're getting firmware 2.02, the latest software version from Sony.

PlayStation Store

The PlayStation Store is your portal to every shred of content Sony has available on its system. You'll use it to shop for the latest games, movies and featured content that the Big Blue thinks you ought to know about.

Of course featured games have come and gone over the course of the past year, but one new feature that's stuck around is the ability to buy a digital copy of a game and have it install days before its retail launch. You won't be able to start it until the midnight of its launch-day, but just having a game the second the clock strikes 12 is convenient.

If you're not buying a game the minute it comes out, you can even start playing part of the game before the download completes. When purchasing a game like Killzone: Shadow Fall, you'll be asked which portion of the game should be prioritized, single or multiplayer, essentially letting you choose which part of the game you want to hop into first.

In a little less than an hour, you'll be able to start playing a title. It may seem like something only the truly impatient would enjoy, but when you consider that many releases weigh in excess of 35GB, it's real luxury feature, and another impressive bit of engineering.

Then there's the PlayStation app for iOS and Android. With just the stroke of a touchscreen, you can remotely purchase games and get the download going on your PS4 so it's ready and waiting when you get home (the console will turn on, download and switch off on its own).

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMU972qncoM

PS Vita Remote Play

The one feature that hasn't changed all that much was PS Vita Remote Play. Initially, we thought this was going to be the missing link between Sony's shrugged-off handheld and all-new console. While it didn't sell many Vitas (considering customers have already spent a lot on a PS4), it certainly got current owners to dust off the system.The biggest change to the feature's functionality came earlier this year in PS Vita software 3.35 that allowed up to four PS Vitas to be logged into a single PS4 system.

Connect a PS4 to a PS Vita on the same WiFi network and use the Vita as a second, third or fourth controller in multiplayer games or transfer your game to your handheld and take it into another room with you while someone else is using the TV. Outside of the same WiFi network as your PS4, Remote Play is not an option. At the office we couldn't get it to connect to our PS4 at home, and it simply isn't an available over a 3G data connection. Not only you can use it as a controller, but as well as a second screen, Smartglass style. It's a great way to avoid using the on screen keyboard, if nothing else.

Like platform-exclusive games, we're still looking to Sony for that crucial reason to go out and buy a Vita and complete our Sony ecosystem. But, if you already own one, it's an impressive novelty at the very least.

PlayStation Now

Of all the functionality the PS4 gained in the past year, PlayStation Now is our favorite. PS Now is essentially a digital rental service that allows you to rent games for anywhere from two hours to 90 days. Instead of downloading a copy of the game that will take up space on your hard drive and time to download, you'll actually stream the game from Sony's servers. It takes about 25-30 seconds to get a game going, but once you do it's relatively smooth sailing.

Sony recently unveiled an all-you-can-play subscription plan that gives you access to every game on the network for $20 per month. Unfortunately, not every game on PlayStation Now is included in the subscription model, meaning you may have to pay an outlandish fee to stream your favorite game while others may not.

PlayStation Vue

Online TV will soon have a new home on PlayStation. A new service called PlayStation Vue hasn't received much attention from the media, but it could be the final piece in the puzzle for PlayStation 4. Like Sling TV, Vue is a cable TV-alternative that gives you many of the same channels as the mainstream providers but with no contract or excess equipment.

The service has only launched in three US cities - New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia - but should roll out quickly to other major metropolitan areas. Key differences are its ability to recommend content and store any number of shows in the cloud for a 30-day period.

Project Morpheus

In the "PlayStation has it and Xbox doesn't" category, VR is one category that Sony has really outshone the competition. Project Morpheus is a virtual reality headset made in-house by Sony's hardware team exclusively for the PS4.

From everything we've seen so far, it's sleek, fast and powerful. It has a 5.7-inch OLED screen with 1920 x RGB x 1080 resolution, and can hold about 120 fps refresh rate.

While we don't have a release date yet, expect it to be a major fixture at E3 2015.

Sharing gameplay videos

If the PlayStation 4 will be remembered for one thing, it will be its integration into this decade's "share everything" culture. Sharing in-game photos and videos have been a feature since console launch and the size and scope of its abilities have only grown in time.

One year ago, sharing videos and screens was limited to social networks and the PSN. Now, if you want to upload your video to YouTube or edit it in the PS4's basic video editor, Share Play, that's no problem. In a perfect world we'd be able to plug in a thumb drive and grab the raw video but, in the meantime at least, that's not allowed. But perhaps that will change in year two.

Streaming to Twitch and UStream is just as simple as saving locally. Just tap the share button and select "Broadcast gameplay" and away you go on the path to internet stardom. It's quite painless to set up, especially compared to the third-party mechanics needed to employ this on a last-gen system.

Share Play

Share Play is Sony's novel concept to bring back local multiplayer to its games. When you load up a particularly tough section in a game, you can invite a more experienced buddy from your friends list to take control of your console remotely and do the dirty work for you. If the game supports local multiplayer, they take over the second controller and play your game with you without ever owning a copy of it themselves.

The downside, however, is that both players will need to be PlayStation Plus subscribers and sessions are limited to an hour each. That doesn't mean that you're limited to one session a day, but it does mean that you'll need to send an invitation to your friend every hour. Your friend - assuming you're the one hosting - will only see the game in 720p and if you're the host, you're the only one who'll get trophies.

Share Play's still a bit too new to really judge how well it works. Initial tests suggest that it could add a new level of social interactivity, but until everyone "gets it," it probably won't see the same amount of prestige that some of the other new features have gotten.

Gamepad + PS Camera

The PlayStation 4 is one hot combination of industrial design and gaming hardware, but what about those accessories? How are they for interacting with the system?

Out of the box you've got one DualShock 4 controller and its charging cable. Sold separately, a spare will run you $59.99/£49.00, and it comes without a charging cable.

Then there's the PlayStation Camera. It's $59.99/£54.99, and while it lacks the robust feature set of its new Kinect rival, the fact that it's sold separately is likely why the PS4 was able to undercut the Xbox One by $100/£80. So thank it for that, at the very least.

DualShock 4 controller

The PlayStation and its DualShock controller have been peas in the proverbial pod since the brand's inception. Ever since the introduction of the twin analog stick design in 1997, Sony has changed little about its signature gamepad.

The DualShock 4, the current controller model that ships with the PlayStation 4, is the most refined iteration yet. DualShock fans will find it immediately familiar, and those that disliked Sony's design will find that some, but not all, of their gripes have been addressed.

At face value, it might look an awful lot like a DualShock 3, but it's far from the same old controller from the past seven years. It's built on a series of tweaks, rather than an overhaul, of the last Sony controller. And even though the new DualShock is even PS3 compatible, a lot has changed from one generation to the next, and mostly for better.

Most alterations made to the DualShock seem based on user feedback, targeting a specific annoyance gamers had with last gen's model.

For example, the twin analog sticks are now spaced a little bit further apart, so it's no longer possible to smack your thumbs together when pulling both sticks towards each other.

The tops of the sticks are now dimpled. They also have an extra grippy rubber texture, making them very easy to manipulate. Shooter fans especially should appreciate these tweaks.

Over long gaming sessions we still found its symmetrical stick layout to be more fatiguing than Xbox's asymmetrical design. The DualShock 4 is the best DualShock yet, but die hard fans of Microsoft's gamepad, or long time DualShock haters, won't be won over.

The L2 and R2 shoulder buttons, which commonly function as triggers, have been extended. They're a lot easier to catch and grip, and it's more comfortable to rest a finger on one, ready for that quick reaction shot.

Sony has also stepped away from the classic DualShock design by shifting from Start and Select buttons to Share and Options. Not only are they labeled in a way that better fits their functions, they're no longer rubber. They're very flush, making them hard to hit by accident, and they feel closer to a mouse click then the spongy button we were used to.

Speaking of a mouse, the DualShock 4 also sports a touchpad. It's metal construction feels great to the touch. Fingers glide smoothly and it can be clicked, just like on a laptop. In fact, it feels a lot like what you'd find on a MacBook; the overall construction is excellent.

While it's underused by the current crop of games, the touchpad is a smart addition. It's relatively intuitive, and will certainly be a boon for both menu navigation and casual gaming.

Borrowing a feature from the Wii Remote, the DualShock 4 has a little speaker. It leaves us to wonder if Sony will best Nintendo here by figuring out something useful to do with it. Right now the best we've encountered is the way Resogun pipes important bits of narration through it, leaving us free to mute the game and blast our own music.

There's a 3.5mm headphone jack too, so you can plug any old headphones or headset right into the controller. It's extremely convenient, and a great money saver since you can use earbuds or whatever else you already own. The sound outputs in stereo, so it's a bit of a waste to use a fancy 5.1 cans this way, but the sound options in settings let you choose between piping chat or game audio into your ears.

Sony has also streamlined the whole "who's player one?" question. Each controller has a light bar that glows one of four colors: blue, red, green or purple. Players are now identified by color, rather than a number.

It's now much easier to know who's who at a glance, but these glowing controllers can get obnoxious when you're trying watch a movie in a darkened room. There's really no reason why they should be lit up when you're using Netflix, or when there's only one controller turned on, for that matter. The only solution is to turn the controller off, which means having to wake it when you want to pause your movie.

The DualShock 4 also has less battery life than the previous model. A day of moderate gaming, or leaving the controller on when you watch a film, puts a serious drain on its charge. Our controller frequently ran dry before the end of the day, to the point where we seriously suggest owning at least two, especially if your TV is too far from the couch to play while plugged in.

Basically, you need to remember to keep a controller plugged into the PS4 whenever it's not in use. Thankfully the system can charge a DualShock when it's off or on standby, something the PS3 shockingly could not do, so at least Sony has addressed that major last-gen oversight.

It is a pity that a sold seperately DualShock 4 doesn't include a charging cable. GIven that, Sony really ought to be selling the system with two of these cables, one for each USB port. However, we'll still take this over the Xbox One's reliance on AAs any day.

PlayStation Camera

Nothing says next-gen like voice and face recognition technology, hence the PlayStation Camera. While it's a shadow of its rival the new Xbox One Kinect, it's a massive step up from the PlayStation Eye Camera, thanks to controller tracking and a built-in microphone.

It's still a rather unnecessary accessory, at least at this point in the system's life. There are hardly any games that use it and the interface doesn't depend on it in any meaningful ways.

At login, the PS4 can use the camera to recognize your face. It actually needs you to hold up a DualShock, where it uses the light bar's color to figure out who's player one and so forth. It's amusing and futuristic, but doesn't really speed up the sign in process, which is already as simple as clicking on your name.

The PlayStation Camera has a microphone, which can pick up simple spoken commands. The PS4's voice controls are limited, especially compared to the Xbox One. It can be used to launch games, put the system in standby or capture a screenshot. However, voice functions can also work through a microphone, either by plugging the ear bud that comes with the system into your controller or through a fancy third-party headset.

As far as games go, only one title truly requires it: Just Dance 2014. For gamers, this should be the deciding factor: do you want to spend an extra $59.99/£54.99 to play just one game? Personally, we'd recommend waiting until there's another title or two.

There's also the Playroom, a sort of tech demo that comes with the PS4. It's a showroom feature, the kind of thing that gets otherwise uninterested people engaging with the console.

The closest thing it has to a game is air hockey, but the most engaging feature is AR Robots. Here, AR stands for augmented reality.

The camera puts you and your living room on the screen, surrounding you with little squealing robots. You can interact with them in limited ways, knocking them around or vacuuming them up with the controller.

Since there's no goal and limited gameplay it's a really just a tech demo. It's amusing and terribly cute, until you run out of friends to show it to. After that, you'll quickly stop visiting the Playroom.

Basically, the PlayStation Camera works well and has some amusing features, but it's entirely inessential. While these camera probably won't fly off the shelves, we're happy that Sony chose not make it essential.

Performance

The PlayStation 4 has some serious guts. Sony has been bragging about its 8GB of GDDR5 RAM since it was announced, and frankly, the system needs it.

While 8GB is a lot of memory right now, how much will it be a few years down the road? The PlayStation 3, with its with its 256MB of XDR Main RAM and 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM made it seven years, and managed to support visual feasts like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension during its final days.

The PlayStation 4 needs to go the distance. So how is it performing now, one year into its life?

Interface

The PlayStation 3's interface was dense, and plagued by pop in. While it got you to the homescreen quick enough, all the icons needed a little more time to appear.

The PlayStation 4's interface has been streamlined considerably. Now known as the Dynamic Menu, it's composed of two horizontal feeds. The primary menu serves up games and apps, while the one above it hosts your trophies, friends list, your PSN profile and system settings. All of this lays on top of a customizable theme.

Coming out of a cold boot, you're on the homescreen in less than thirty seconds. The same goes for coming out of standby. There's still some icon pop in, meaning the menu needs a few extra second to populate.

As far as responding to player inputs goes, it's very fast. You can drill through menus almost immediately, and everything moves in the blink of an eye.

This homescreen is never far away, just pressing the PlayStation button summons it and pauses your current game. Also, if you get lost in an avalanche of menus, the PS button will bring back to the primary feed, a simple alternative to spamming the back button.

Switching from one game to another will end your current session; the PlayStation warns you of this and asks you to confirm the shutdown of whatever title you have paused in the background. Better make sure you've reached a checkpoint, as the title will boot fresh the next time you play it; it does not pick up right where you left off.

We said the interface is streamlined and it is, practically to a fault. That primary feed constantly reorders itself, putting the recently accessed applications first. That's fine if you're only playing a game or two, but getting at something on your back burner means scrolling to the end of an ever growing list. Icons towards the back also need a second or two to appear.

The Dynamic Menu also lumps all your streaming apps into one icon. Everything from Netflix to Amazon to whatever else is found under TV & Video. Only Sony's Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited are allowed to hang out on the homescreen.

The only icon that never moves is What's New, basically the PSN's news feed. It's always at the front of the line and clicking into is to enter a jumbled nightmare that would make Mark Zuckerberg cry or laugh, we can't decide which.

It's an asymmetrical mishmash of icons representing everything your PSN friends have done, from play games to earn achievements to share gameplay videos and screenshots. It's a total mess, especially compared to the neatly laid out Dynamic Menu.

The biggest problem with What's New is not the eye gouging layout, but the fact that there's not much to be done with 80% of the information there.

Suppose there's an icon saying Joe played Battlefield 4 for three hours last night. Clicking on the icon just provides a description from the PSN Store and a link to buy the game. And you can "like" the activity, adding yet another icon to everyone's jumbled feed.

What's New is in desperate need of a filtration system. There needs to be a way to reduce the trophy spam and see just the things you can actually interact with. Being able to see gameplay videos posted by friends is cool, but not so cool that that you'll dig through this feed to find them.

Games

Alright, the stuff that truly matters. The PlayStation 4 is indeed a graphical step up from the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. The games look very good, and everything loads quite quickly. Beyond the speedy, one time install when you first pop in a new game, it's hard to even notice the loading times. There's nothing that even comes close to the disconcertingly long load up of the PS3's The Last of Us.

The graphics are good, but not mind blowing. If you've played on a PC built within the past few years, you've likely seen as good, if not slightly better. It's the fact that you're getting it for so much cheaper, and on your HDTV, that's worth something. Just don't expect your head to explode and your eyes to melt like it's the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

There's an impressive level of detail on display in Knack's character models. Killzone shows off some vistas with a draw distance that would have melted a last-gen system. The most muscle being flexed on the PS4 comes in subtle ways from the performance side. The fact that Battlefield 4 can manage 64 players with just a brief load before a match is the kind of stuff worth noting.

The third-party titles on the PlayStation 4 have one foot in next generation and the other in the last. Games Call of Duty: Ghosts and Madden 25 look better than their last-gen counterparts, and they certainly perform better, but they're not on par with Sony's private stable of titles.

The one exception to that is NBA 2K14, which is truly striking. The animations, the renderings of famous players, the detail of the crowd and the accuracy of its animations make it something to write home about. It stands among the first-party titles as one of the best looking games on the system.

We're being harsh but only because we know that better games will come. If you rush out and buy a PS4 now, you'll be wanting for titles to show you what this system can truly do. There's a reason Sony made such a big deal out of confirming a new Uncharted game, the best is truly yet to come.

Must-Own Games

The PlayStation 4 looks slick and it's chocked full of gigabytes, but what exactly can you play on it? That's the question gamers should be asking before lining up at the local electronics store.

The PS4's library isn't large, some standouts have already emerged. For more, we turn to our sister site GamesRadar. If you still need something to play after reading this, check out their list of the best PS4 games.

Bloodborne

Right out of the gate, Japanese RPG developer FromSoftware was on Sony's side. The original button-breaking-out-of-sheer-frustration game Demon's Souls was a PS3 exclusive. The company's latest title, Bloodborne is going to return that soul-crushingly difficult gameplay back where it belongs, exclusively on Sony's PS4.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G203e1HhixY

From GamesRadar's Bloodborne review:

"From Software's upcoming PS4 exclusive delivers the same kind of giddy thrills as the [Dark] Souls series, with a few new twists and a spooky Victorian-era setting. But the delight of playing still comes from the same places. The suspense before each fight; the intensity of the combat; the desperate clinging to hope when things look dire; the euphoric relief that comes with finally downing your enemy. It's all here, and it's incredible."

LittleBigPlanet 3

There was a time when the terms "children's game" and "destined for the discount bin" were synonymous. The original LittleBigPlanet changed that. An easy-to-understand platformer similar in spirit to the original Super Mario Bros., LittleBigPlanet is a cute, fun, ephemeral adventure that will make you smile time and time again. The third game in the main series will have Sackboy - the game's crochet protagonist - teaming up with three friends to save Craftverse.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymCDdrMKPrY

From GamesRadar's LittleBigPlanet 3 review:

"Being welcomed back to the world of LittleBigPlanet 3 by the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry is a little bit like sinking into a warm bath of - probably Earl Grey scented - PlayStation charm. And there it is already. The offensive 'c' word. Well at least now it's out of the way, I can get on with more important words. Ones that explain why LittleBigPlanet 3 might look sweet on the surface but hides a fiendish depth of collectables and the frankly terrifying prospect that, thanks to its Create options, you might never need to buy another platforming game ever again."

Infamous: Second Son

The new Infamous is the first game that looks like it's actually putting all that fancy hardware to work. An open world game with an incredible amount of detail, it boasts excellent production values and a dark, comic book-style story.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA130-XEsp4

From GamesRadar's review:

"If you're looking for a next-gen showpiece to demonstrate the power of PlayStation 4, inFamous: Second Son will definitely do the trick--it looks great, plays well, and gives you a dozen or so hours of city to explore. The gameplay itself isn't all that revolutionary, but the stellar presentation and enjoyable characters assure you'll enjoy your trip to Seattle--even if you'll wish there was more to do there."

The Last of Us Remastered

Hands down, The Last of Us was the best game on the PS3. It shocked us with a heartfelt plot wrapped around a brutal world full of creeps, weirdos, and one genuinely nice guy. With fully remastered graphics and updated soundtrack, The Last of Us Remastered finally gives next-gen adopters a chance to play the game we've been raving about for the past eight months.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaOWRvmtEFQ

From GamesRadar's review:

"The Last of Us remains a must-play, genre-defining action survival game, and the Remastered version brings with it plentiful tweaks and additional content that make it well worth the asking price."

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Monolith Games, Shadow of Mordor's developer, could've made the title "Lord of the Rings: Shadow of Mordor." There was nothing stopping them from a legal stand point. But that would've led people to think that SoM is nothing more than a movie knock-off looking to capitalize of The Hobbit's success. Instead, this turned out to be one of the most well-received games of 2014, leaving its movie-based peers in the dust. Return of the King may have been the king of the movie theater, but SoM has claimed the throne in videogames.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsfAdLmwmqk

From GamesRadar's review:

"Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is an outstanding action game, offering a satisfying mix of stealth and melee combat that series like Assassin's Creed or Batman: Arkham have perfected. But the Nemesis system, which cleverly makes enemies grow and evolve along with the player, is what elevates Shadow of Mordor into the upper echelons of open-world excellence. Every time you die, it's personal."

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Advanced Warfare may be the biggest change for the franchise since the seminal launch of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Multiplayer is fast and fierce thanks to the addition of the Exo suit, and the single-player campaign resonates with everyone scared of another international meltdown. Call of Duty has had its foibles, but Advanced Warfare isn't one of them.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnPZWaui3ao

From GamesRadar's review:

"Franchise fatigue be damned. Sometimes a game comes into a series and does things a little bit differently. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare aims to change the formula for the better with a new setting and futuristic tech, and it succeeds with several game-changing features."

Resogun

Resogun is a fast-paced, addictive 2D-ish shooter. Beyond the simple fun of a neon gun show, it's a major selling point for PS Plus. Subscribe and you'll get it with your monthly payment. If Plus keeps stacking up games like this, it'll really have Xbox Live Gold looking bad.

From GamesRadar's review:

"Resogun looks incredible and provides plenty of arcade fun. It's only held back by sudden difficulty spikes and some frustrating point-scoring mechanics."

Destiny

Calling Destiny ambitious is a disservice to the game. It's an ambient world (er, galaxy) that operates in real time. It combines single- and multiplayer into a single campaign, seamlessly transitioning between the two. It's from the team that made Halo, so while Destiny may not have the iconic face of Master Chief plastered on the box, it will have the same creative minds doing what they do best: sci-fi.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeDaevD7cEo

From GamesRadar's Destiny preview:

"Bungie had a lot to do with what the first person shooter has become today. Now that the developer's time with the landmark Halo series is over, the developer is setting out with a brand new IP. With the company's next project--an open, shared-world shooter called Destiny--it looks like the creators of Master Chief are aiming to change the face of the shooter once again."

Games Coming Soon

It's not enough to have four or five stand-out games available on your console; what you really need are great games waiting in the wings, ready to launch this holiday season.

The PS4 may not have had the better of the two launch line-ups (sorry Knack!), but it's making up for lost time with some huge, triple-A games exclusively available on the PlayStation 4. A mix of late 2014 and early 2015 release dates, there's a lot to look forward to on Sony's system - not the least of which is the recently unveiled Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End

Release date: Spring 2016

One of the biggest surprise appearances at E3 2014 was Uncharted 4. It's too bad we know as little about Nathan Drake's final adventure into the wild green yonder as we do about the lost city of Atlantis. What we can expect, however, is another edge-of-your-seat adventure steeped in some loose world history and a quite possibly heart-breaking ending. Hey, no one said the life of an adventurer would be easy.

From GamesRadar's Uncharted 4 preview:

"Whether it's the end of Uncharted too is hard to say, especially since you wouldn't expect the final game in a franchise to be the big, shiny iteration for new gen consoles. There's still the potential for prequels, or Drake sidestepping his end, or maybe Naughty Dog's getting sneaky on us and 'thief' refers to someone else entirely. It's hard to say just yet, and we might not know until we play through it ourselves."

The Last Guardian

Release date: TBA

The Last Guardian's announcement was met with uproarious applause, and with good reason, as the game was first shown at E3 over six years ago. As the spiritual successor to Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, The Last Guardian has some giant-sized shoes to fill, but we have every reason to believe it can do it ... as soon as Sony decides the time is right.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXLZvsSmBIs

Final Fantasy VII: Remake

Release date: TBA

Yes way. Sony actually pulled the trigger on updating the 1997 classic that inspired a generation of gamers (and taught them how painful loving someone can be). There's no release date set or even a timeframe to go off of, but money's good that the game will probably come out in 2017, exactly 20 years after the game's initial release date.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=98&v=Kznek1uNVsg

For more insight into this year's biggest releases check out GamesRadar's list of Upcoming PS4 Games.

Media

The PlayStation 3 was beloved among AV enthusiasts and home theater techies as a simple, relatively inexpensive DLNA media server. Without breaking too much of a sweat you could have it streaming music and videos from your PC, playing them back over your stereo and HDTV.

And thanks to the addition of Plex in early 2015, the functionality is finally on par with its predecessor. The Sony's media box supports MP3, MP4, M4A, and 3GP file types and plays host to a plethora of media streaming functionality, third-party movie apps as well Sony's own music and movie storefronts.

Streaming video apps

Like a good little console, the PS4 is playing host to a plethora of third-party apps for streaming movies and television. While it's neck and neck with the Xbox One in terms of library size, Xbox Live keeps all these apps behind a $60/£32.49 paywall.

Even if you're paying for Netflix, you won't be watching it on your Xbox unless pony up for Gold. Not so on the PSN. You need a subscription for online multiplayer but not for media streaming.

Right now, the PS4 has apps for most of the major players in the streaming video market. Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, NBA Game Time, NHL GameCenter Live, Redbox Instant, Twitch and Crackle are all present and accounted for.

Music Unlimited

Editor's note: Music Unlimited will no longer exist after March 29, 2015. It will be replaced by PlayStation Music, powered by Spotify. We will update this review after the new service launches.

There are no third-party music streaming apps on the PlayStation 4. Same goes for Xbox One. Microsoft has its Xbox Music, and Sony has Music Unlimited, a proprietary app very similar in execution to Spotify. It requires a subscription fee of $5 a month, $10 if you want playback from mobile devices. It lets you stream whole albums or create stations, or channels, as it refers to them, from a massive library of artists. There are enough genres here to cater to cover the majority of mainstream music, some obscure stuff as well, and a strong showing of comedy albums.

The best part of Music Unlimited is how it's been gloriously well integrated into the console's interface. Music can be streamed over gameplay, with playback controls just a long press of the PS button away. You can also access the Music Unlimited app without closing your current game.

Unfortunately, Music Unlimited needs work. The app is slow, you'll see a loading screen each time you open it, even if it was just recently accessed. That's far more loading than you'll ever see in a game.

Channel song matching is poor. When you first create a channel you'll always hear a track from the artist you've chosen. What comes up next is a crapshoot, often a track entirely outside the genre you're expecting.

Music Unlimited doesn't seem to learn from your skips either. Blow past an undesirable track and the next song is often in that same genre you're not interested in, or even by the same artist. There's no way to give a track a thumbs down either.

We also had music playback drop out frequently times during our testing. Hopefully this is all just a server issue, something that Sony can sort out sooner rather than later.

All in all it's a real missed opportunity. The strong interface integration on the PS4 really got our hopes up, and since there's no Spotify, Rdio or Pandora here, Music Unlimited really is the only game in town.

Also, since there are apps for Android and iOS, as well as an in-browser player, this could conceivably become your all around source for music, and therefore a worthy investment. As it stands now, it's hard to recommend. We suggest saving the free trial that comes with your PS4 for a month or so and to see if things improve. We'll be back again to check it out and update this review.

Video Unlimited

If Music Unlimited is Sony's Spotify, then Video Unlimited is its iTunes or Amazon Instant for movies and TV. It works much the same way as those services, offering streaming playback of movies and TV in standard or high definition.

It's a bit of a change from the PS3, which allowed you to download movies for local playback. If you have an unreliable connection for streaming, this probably isn't the best option for you, but to be fair, Netflix and others won't fare much better. Those services are streaming only as well.

Price-wise, it's on par with the competition. An HD rental of Man of Steel goes for $4.99, the same price as on Amazon and iTunes. Episodes of Walking Dead, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones are present and priced competitively.

The selection is pretty close to its rivals as well. We did our best to stump it, but found a wide library of new and classic movies and television. The only gap we could find was Portlandia, and other shows from the cable channel IFC. Other cable comedies like Chappelle's Show and Childrens Hospital were available.

The roadblock here is that your playback devices are severely limited, namely to Sony devices. Only Xperia Android devices will be able stream your purchases, with no support for any other flavor of Android, iOS or even Mac computers. There is an app for playback on Windows PCs, and it did not appear to be limited to Sony Vaio machines.

Amazon uses a similar tactic with its Prime Instant Video, only providing streaming video service for its Kindle Fire devices. It does offer playback on iOS over WiFi though, while Video Unlimited does not.

Basically, while Video Unlimited has competitive selection and pricing, we can't recommend buying anything more than a rental from it, something that you'll watch in one sitting on your PS4 or PS Vita. Unless you own a few more Sony devices, you won't have a lot places to enjoy your library.

Original programming

Sony is venturing into uncharted territory in 2015 with the introduction of its own original programming. It's a move that will put it in direct competition with other anti-cable competitors Netflix and Amazon.

The first show on the docket for Sony is called Powers and is based on a comic book written by legendary Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis. Check out the seven-minute preview below:

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPrZfjeeOio

Network

In the last generation, Sony's PlayStation Network, or PSN, was always number two to Xbox Live.

PSN was by no means poor, but it was a get what you pay for situation. Xbox Live Gold was around $60/£30 for a year, got you access to online multiplayer and streaming services (even ones you might already be paying for, like Netflix) and had a robust list of features that made it easy to communicate with friends and join their games.

Sony gave away online multiplayer for free with the PlayStation 3, but you could opt for PlayStation Plus status for digital store discounts and other perks. The PSN on the PlayStation 4 has gotten a major renovation. It has new features and benefits, and compelling reasons to spend $60/£40 for a year of PlayStation Plus: it's now required for online multiplayer.

PlayStation Network

Unlike Xbox One, Sony's console does not need to be connected to the internet for its initial setup. There is a sizeable patch to install when you first set up, but if you live in a lead-lined bunker without a trace of WiFi, you'll still be able to pop in a disc and enjoy some single player without downloading it.

During the initial setup, the PS4 will ask to be connected to internet, like any PC, phone or tablet would do. As we said, you can deny it, and still get some gaming and DVD watching done. However, you'd be missing out on a lot of the fun.

The PSN now supports a party chat function, which lets you group with friends outside of a game for open mic chat. If you do enter a game, you'll be able to communicate privately with each other. The mic quality is clear, but we do suggest investing in something beyond the tinny earbud that comes with your system.

Your PSN profile can now be linked to your Facebook account. It's relatively well executed, but take your time going through the setup menus or you'll end up spamming your friend's news feeds every time you play a game or earn a trophy.

There's an option to make your real name public to everyone yahoo you encounter online. We opted to make it private, meaning that after your friend someone, there's a can send a second request to make your real names visible to each other.

This is a smart, well executed feature. This second request can be sent at any time, allowing for a "getting to know you" period with the people you meet online. Of course, if you're dealing with someone you know in real life, you can go ahead and send the request. Using real names makes it easier to keep track of who exactly HeadShot9999 is, and makes for a much nicer looking friends list.

While the PSN did have some hiccups during the first 24 hours of the system's North American launch, it's smooth sailing now. We've been able to maintain a steady connection with a fast ping on our home internet connection, in both first and third-party games.

PlayStation Plus

On the PlayStation 4, Sony has followed the Xbox Live Gold example and put online multiplayer behind a paywall.

While it's easy to find that disappointing, it was an inevitability. If you have an active PS Plus account from your PS3 or PS Vita it'll carry over and apply to all your Sony systems. Benefits like digital store discounts, monthly free games and early DLC access are still part of the package.

You now get multiplayer access and game patches that download and install automatically while in the PS4 is in standby. Firmware and overall system updates will download automatically even if you're not a Plus member.

Plus also gets you 1GB of cloud storage for your saved games. While any PSN member can sign into a friend's PS4 and access their digitally purchased games, only Plus subscribers will be able to yank their progress out of the cloud.

While it is sad to see free PSN multiplayer go the way of the dodo, Sony has done a lot to sweeten the Plus deal. We think it's an essential part of the PS4 experience, and totally worth the price.

Verdict

The PS4 has come a long way since launch day. Small changes over the year, along with a few huge additions like firmware 2.5, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Music and Share Play, have added up to make the system a better value now than it was 12 months ago. It's faster, more vibrant and has more content available than ever before.

The PlayStation 4 isn't perfect, though. While it's made several improvements to its interface, the PlayStation 4 is still lacking in the one area that counts: games. Out of everything else, though, this may be the hardest to fix. There's hope on the horizon that games like Uncharted 4 will give gamers a reason to call the system "the best Sony system ever" but, until we get more quality first-party games in our hands, there will still be a distinct lack of content there to win us over.

So, you ask yourself, is it worth jumping in now at $399 or wait just another six months to see if I can get a cheaper bundle down the road? Let's break it down.

We liked

The system is cleanly designed, functional and a downright joy to putter around its interface. Everything is speedy and responsive right from minute one, and the interface is full of clever design choices that speed things up. Games begin to install the second you pop in the disc, and firmware updates download while the system is on standby.

Games themselves look loads better here than they did just one year ago at the peak of the PlayStation 3. The graphics aren't mind-blowing if you're used to high-end gaming rigs but, when compared to the Xbox One, there's a small, but notable improvement on Sony's system.

Even the controller is better than last generation's. The DualShock 4 controller is a significant upgrade over the DualShock 3. The most bothersome aspects of the DS3 have been addressed, resulting in a comfortable controller that's more functional for games of all genres.

PS Plus (and the PlayStation Network in general) are more enjoyable now than they've ever been and, while it's a bit disheartening to see online multiplayer go behind a $50/£40 paywall, Sony has tossed in a lot of stuff to sweeten the deal. You get improved standby functionality, discounts on games in the digital store and freebie downloadables that are actually quite good.

The PlayStation 4 did all this without losing any shred of its Sony DNA. It's hands-down the best media-streaming system on the market, capable of playing lag-free blu-rays and creating a minimalistic interface for Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video.

It's also very apparent that Sony is concerned about growing the console and its feature-set for the long-term. It's refusing to let its console grow stagnant by providing monthly patches and forecasting interesting features down the road.

We disliked

Sony has made it clear that it's branch out or die. To add a new feature every six months or pack it up and call it quits. This amiable drive to create something from nothing every six months has given gamers a reason to pick the PS4 over the Xbox One.

The downside, however, is that Sony often forgets to improve what features the PS4 already has. Remote Play has been given PS4 owners four-player functionality but little reason to actually go out and buy a PS Vita - there are few games built with cross-over play in mind and even fewer that make for a compelling case to drop an extra $200.

And the list of innovative-but-forgotten features continues with everything from the touchpad on the controller to the unwieldy "What's New" section of the home screen. The speed at which new features come out seems like it has outpaced Sony's ability to refine and hone them. The potential for real change is buried inside the hardware of the system but, as it stands, the PlayStation 4 feels more like a PlayStation 3.5 than a real evolution of the platform.

Verdict

We'll say it again: the PlayStation 4 is a great piece of hardware. It's fast, nicely built and has a streamlined philosophy that puts games front and center. And let's not forget the price tag. It was the first console to be priced at $399 and continues to offer great value for the money.

What's more impressive was that it had a fantastic first year jam-packed with new features and firmware updates that improved the stability and speed of the system. These may end up hurting if Sony doesn't take some time to really work and refine the feature-set it's already put out. But, for the time-being, seeing monthly updates has only reinforced gamers' decisions to buy Sony.

Introduction

Before it changed course, Microsoft had plans for an always-online system that would have allowed for disc-less play, easy game sharing on other owner's consoles, mandatory system scans and an end to second-hand purchases as we know them.

But that wasn't in the cards for Microsoft's third gaming console.

Instead what we got is a TV companion and guide, a media streaming center, a Skype phone, a Blu-ray player, a pizza delivery machine and more.

It's not exactly what we wanted, sure, but it's turned out better than any of us ever expected.

A year and two months later, however, the Xbox One has slowly grown into a true contender to the PS4's throne.

As of July 2015, over 12 million gamers have bought into the Xbox One philosophy so far, a number that would be really quite impressive were it not for the PS4's frankly incredible record-breaking tally of 23 million units sold worldwide.

Regardless of where you stand on PS4 vs Xbox One, it's important to understand that the Xbox One is not just a games machine; it's a clever and powerful media hub designed to sit at the center of your digital home. It offers a unified interface for your choice of cable services alongside music, movie and cable streaming options, Skype chats and more, and will integrate seamlessly with Windows 10 when it comes out of beta.

Over the last year, we've seen a slew of updates that have radically changed how the system works, almost all of which have been for the better.

But before we talk about where the system is going, let's reflect where it came from. To paint a mental picture, the Xbox One release date was November 22 2013 here in America and 12 other launch markets - Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain and the UK.

It continued the trend the Xbox 360 started by placing a impetus on platform-exclusive IPs. Sunset Overdrive, Forza Horizon 2 and Halo: The Master Chief Collection all launched in 2014 while games like Halo 5: Guardians, Crackdown 3, Fable Legends and Quantum Break are already in the works for 2016.

Thanks to exclusive partnerships between Microsoft, DISH, EA and Activision, the Xbox One gets first dibs on Call of Duty DLC, console exclusivity for Sling TV and trials of EA games five full days before they launch. The PS4 may try to label itself a game console for gamers, by gamers, but it certainly lost a lot of ground to Redmond in the past year since E3 2014.

In other news, Microsoft has also dropped Xbox One's sticker price to just $349 going forward without Kinect, which stings for those of us who dropped the five benjamins on the system and its "completely necessary" peripheral 12 short months ago.

But, financially speaking, the move makes sense. The lower barrier of entry should drum up the extra business the console desperately needs in order to climb back to the top of the totem pole.

Are you ready to get your gamertag and join the green team? Read on to get our full thoughts and opinions on Microsoft's all-in-one entertainment machine, one year in the making.

Design

We've gone one full calendar year without Microsoft making any major tweaks, fixes, or modifications to the Xbox One's initial design. Companies like Nyko, PDP and Power A have come along to offer additional products like intercoolers and clip-on charging stations, but Microsoft's rock-solid design has stood the earliest test of time.

Measuring in at 274 x 79 x 333 mm (L x H x W), the Xbox One's sheer size and girth harkens back to the original Xbox, an imposing black plastic beast covered in black plastic ridges. It's taller, wider and heavier than the PS4 (8 lbs compared to 7.1), and has opted for a pure rectangular design rather than copying Sony's parallelogram. You'll also have to make room for its external power adapter, a feature inherited from the Xbox 360. A common feature on both systems, though, is the button-less design: both the power and eject spaces are touch-capacitive.

At first glance it looks almost identical to an audio receiver. Which is ironic, as Microsoft's jet-black console would very much like to replace that as the center of your home entertainment system. The top of the system is where heat gets dissipated while the two sides host ancillary grilles and a single USB port. Flip the machine around and you'll see a plethora of ports. It has all your standard nodes: Ethernet, HDMI-out, power, S/PDIF (commonly used for optical audio), dual USB 3.0 ports and an IR out. Additionally, there are two proprietary ports, one for hooking in the Kinect, and an HDMI-in, which is how you feed the Xbox One a TV signal from a cable box. But if have plans to use the Xbox One's HDMI-in to hook in another console, forget it. The HDMI-in can function as a passthrough and let any old HDMI signal in, but this introduces a lot of input lag, making it no good for hooking in another system.

Kinect

If the Xbox One leaves behind one memory in gamers' minds, it will likely be of the Kinect. Some love it. Some hate it. Others still don't get what it is and why it was necessary. No matter what camp you fall into, Microsoft has given you a choice whether you want Kinect in your home. Starting in June, the Kinect became an optional peripheral rather than a mandatory pack-in. Buying an Xbox One without a Kinect not only saves you $100 off the sticker price, but also frees up an extra 10% of processing power in certain games that was reserved for image processing.

For awhile after launch, we stood by Microsoft's decision to keep Kinect, the all-seeing eye that allows you to shout voice commands, video chat and play full-body games, included in every box. We were told how crucial it was going to be to the next-gen experience and how innovative games were being developed that leveraged the new technology. And for about six months after launch, we believed it. Then the decision came down to cut Kinect from the basic package and instead of dozens of new, ground-breaking games, we got Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved.

There's still a showroom factor when you use Kinect. And yes, voice commands do sometimes help to navigate around the Xbox's cluttered, convoluted interface. But at the end of the day, this mandatory pack-in is more hassle than it's worth. Apparently, Microsoft thinks so too.

Xbox One specifications

Microsoft's bid for living room supremacy is powered by an AMD processor, backed by 8GB of DDR3 memory and 32MB of ultra fast ESRAM. For storage, most consoles come with a 500GB hard drive to keep your media, gameplay videos and game installs, though some special editions have started to pack-in a 1TB drive instead. But, unlike the PS4, there's no swapping out that mechanical drive for solid state and even attempting it will void your warranty.

Whether the system is ultimately faster than the PS4 is up for debate. The only thing we know for sure is that several games currently play in 1080p on PlayStation while only achieving 720p or 900p on Xbox. Times are changing, though. Because Microsoft dropped Kinect, Xbox has an extra 10% of memory space available to use in future games. But, less clear however, is the role DirectX 12 will play in future releases. There's skepticism on both sides of the aisle in whether it will actually change the overall resolution of games, or if we'll just get a small bump in load times.

Features

Microsoft captured the zeitgeist of the 21st century in the Xbox One. It's a connected system that, if you let it, can touch every area of your life, from your social habits to your media preferences and everything in between. The best features on Xbox reflect that philosophy: Game DVR lets you record, edit and share your "dude! Did you see that?" moments, while Xbox OneGuide will cull your thousand-or-so channels of cable to five or six recommended shows.

Every month, the team adds to these technologies and the choices Microsoft is making seem deliberate. In the time since last year, the Xbox has gained a Friends section on the home screen, DLNA support, as well as improved Snap functionality. Achievements are now easier to access and we've seen the return of our digital avatars from the Xbox 360. Recently, Microsoft has made the push to connect Windows 10 PCs and Xbox Ones by giving the former the ability to stream games over a home network and has finally released the screenshot feature PS4 has had since launch. There have been some downturns in that time, too, but by and large Microsoft's media dream machine is making a comeback one first-party exclusive at a time.

What's in the box?

The biggest change from last year is that today Xbox One comes in two flavors, with Kinect or without. Either package will come with a power cable and adapter (aka the power brick), a headset adapter, a throw-away headset (seriously, buy a replacement from Turtle Beach ASAP), an HDMI cable and controller with batteries, but you won't get a Kinect unless you pony up an extra $100. You'll also get a 14-day free trial of Xbox Live Gold which will net you at least one game for free as soon as you turn the system on.

Setup

Setting up your brand-new Xbox One has remain almost unchanged since its launch last year, and is best described as simple and long. Simple in the sense that all you'll need to do is follow on-screen instructions to set up a Microsoft account and agree to few terms and conditions, but long in that the initial update, which is mandatory before you do anything, will take anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours depending on your connection speed. There's been quite a few firmware updates since launch, too, so it's better to start installing this stuff right before bed so that you can jump in early the next morning.

And if you plan to watch TV on the console, you'll want to run an HDMI cable from your cable box into the system's HDMI-in port. You'll then need to run the OneGuide's setup, which isn't too complex, but we'll get into that in just a few minutes. Also, it should be noted that its online requirement, which threatened to lock up the system without a daily server ping, has been dialed way, way down. Out of the box, your Xbox One will need to download a day one patch before you even arrive at the homescreen. After that, however, you can cut the Ethernet cable or smash your router; there's no further online connectivity needed for single player gaming. That doesn't mean you won't want that Internet connectivity to make the most of your console, but having a system that works entirely offline is a viable option.

Snap

Snapping is the Xbox's catchy name for multitasking, and has been the target for some of the system's biggest patches since launch. Snapping lets you run two Xbox One apps at once, giving a third of the screen to one app off to the right, and the rest to your primary engagement. It's a good way to do a little Internet Explorer browsing while you wait for a friend to join your game, but beyond that it can be straining on the eyes unless your TV or projector screen is very large.

Before this year in order to "snap" an app you needed to exit what you were doing, find the app you want to snap, press and hold the menu button and select the snap option. Unsnapping required a nearly identical process: Leave the game, find the app running on the right side of your screen and then unsnap it. Finally, thanks to Microsoft's October system update, we have finally seen a streamlined process. Essentially, double tapping the Xbox jewel button brings up a thumb stick-enabled Snap menu. Press left and you'll move back to your primary application. Pressing right specifically brings up achievements, while up brings you to the home page to choose any of your other applications. Down, as you might've guessed, closes the Snap and resumes your main application.

Kinect makes it even easier, allowing users to simply say "Xbox snap Skype" to get the side by side feature working. It's also much easier to just say "switch" for toggling between the two rather using the controller. While it's impressive that the Xbox One's hardware is capable of juggling all this without a drop in gaming performance, it comes off as something you can do, but not something you'll actually want to do, at least very often.

Xbox OneGuide

One of the Xbox One's best features is its ability to integrate with your cable or satellite feed thanks to an HDMI-in port. Anyone who's had cable installed in their home probably shudders at the thought of fooling with that precarious mix of coaxial and HDMI, but fear not, setting it up is easier than finding your cable company's service number.

After connecting your cable box to the Xbox One via HDMI there's a setup wizard to take you through all the steps. All you need to know is your service provider and zip code. Punch that in and the Xbox does the rest.The result is the OneGuide, live TV on your game console organized a lot like your cable's built-in menu. It can be navigated just like the One's general interface, with speech, gestures, the controller or Smartglass.

Once you're set up you'll be able to use OneGuide like a TiVo mixed with a top-tier set-top box. You can use it to set reminders for your favorite shows or, if you're not feeling up to finding something for yourself, get a list of recommended content based on what's trending and past viewing preferences. It's powerful, smart technology that truly integrates the Xbox into the media center in a way that it never was before.

Game DVR and Live streaming

Being able to record native gameplay, without the use of an added peripheral, is something new to this generation of consoles. Both the Xbox One and PS4 are able to record, edit and share your favorite moments with your friends, but only on Xbox One will you be able to use Upload Studio to send files directly to the cloud. That may not sound like a big deal, but having the ability to manipulate the raw video file on a PC instead of having to make edits inside half-baked video editing software makes a world of difference to wannabe YouTube stars and anyone interested in starting their own "Let's Play" channel. Upload Studio has a simple suite of tools, and allows you to record a voice over commentary. Moreover, you can use Kinect's video recording ability to place yourself in the video, picture-in-picture style.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMU972qncoM

However, getting raw gameplay footage is tricky. Unlike the PS4, which keeps a running archive of your last fifteen minutes of gameplay, the Xbox One only records the last 30 seconds. To save it to the hard drive you can say "Xbox record that" to Kinect and a 720p recording of your last half-minute of gameplay will be stored to OneDrive.

A more recent addition to Xbox One's firmware modified the 30-second rule, but requires Game DVR to be snapped while recording. Regardless if DVR is snapped or not, one feature that is unique to Xbox One is that games can be programmed to automatically engage the DVR. Battlefield 4, for example, records when you rank up or earn an achievement and EA Sports UFC automatically saves footage of your best knock-outs.

At one point the only way to see this plethora of video content was to see friends' shared clips in your activity feed. Those feeds were rather buried though, so chances of finding your friend's footage wasn't likely unless they gave you a heads up of what to look for. Now you're able to embed your favorite gameplay clips directly into your gamer profile, in what Microsoft is calling your "showcase."

Showcases contain clips, achievement or pictures that you find to be the most representative of your personality and works as a great differentiator to the all-too-similar profile pages we're used to seeing.

The last feature worth pointing out in regards to video capture is live streaming, a capability the Xbox One was missing one short year ago. Setting up a stream is as simple as it is on a PC, and only requires you downloading the Twitch app and connecting it to your account by signing in. Once paired, you'll be able to stream gameplay and use the Kinect sensor as a quasi-webcam for users to be able to see and hear you. Watching Twitch is just as easy as streaming it, thanks to updates to the GUI that allow you to sort content by parameters like kill-death ratio in first-person shooters, highest combo score in fighting games or even incredibly niche values like Grimoire Score in Destiny.

SmartGlass

Smartglass is the Xbox's second screen experience. It was introduced on the Xbox 360 and lets you navigate menus and see system information on your tablet or smartphone. The app is back for Xbox One, and has greatly improved functionality. You can now launch apps from the second screen, and make purchases and start downloads on your home console while you're out and about. If you're a member of Xbox Live Gold, you can even use Smartglass to view this month's free games and, if you're Xbox is set to "remote startup," can start downloading them while you're out and about. Several games now have complimentary companion apps of their own.

Smartglass is an incredibly versatile program that keeps you connected to your online friend community when you can't be right in front of your console. It's an addicting addition to your smartphone - it's available on both iOS and Android devices - and, best of all, it's free. The Windows 8 Smartglass app has its own special features. You can throw a browser page from the console directly onto the screen of your W8 device and use it to pull up extra information on actors from Netflix in real-time while watching a movie.

EA Access

Announced in late July, EA signed a contract with Microsoft giving the Xbox One a publisher-specific download platform that gives gamers access to a vault of valuable titles and first dibs on upcoming demos. The service, called EA Access, costs $4.99 a month or $30 per year and currently has FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, Peggle 2, Need for Speed: Rivals, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare, EA Sports UFC, Battlefield 4 and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, bad NBA Live 15 available for download.

Whether or not Access is a selling point for you largely depends on how many of the publisher's titles you play, and if you're willing to shell out another $30 per year on top of paying for Xbox Live Gold service. Still, if getting five days closer to the next Mass Effect game and the eight or so titles seem appealing, EA Access is well-worth its upfront cost.

Controller + Kinect

Beloved the world over for its comfortable layout and dependable Bluetooth connection, the Xbox 360 controller became a gaming gold standard. For the Xbox One, Microsoft has given it an overhaul, and it's mostly for the best.

Same goes for the Kinect. It never got the adoration of the 360's gamepad, and was often accused of being a gimmicky, "me too" by Microsoft after the Nintendo Wii kicked off a motion control craze (Sony had its own attempt - remember the PlayStation Move?).

This time around, Microsoft still hasn't built a lot of games around the Kinect. Instead, it's been integrated into the console's interface. While you can choose not to use it, you'd be missing out on some of the most surprisingly fun, but occasionally frustrating, features of the Xbox One.

Controller

The Xbox 360's controller was widely regarded as the best all around console gamepad. Its natural contours, well placed triggers and asymmetrical stick layout made it comfortable and the right fit for games of all kinds.

Moving from the 360 to the One, Microsoft has altered little about its signature controller. The most noticeable change is the new position of the Xbox button, which is now at the top rather than in the middle, making it harder to hit by accident.

Basically, Microsoft chose not to mess with a good thing and stuck to improving the existing design. It's now lighter, with a matte finish that feels sleek in the hand. The analog sticks are extra grippy thanks to textured rubber.

There's also force feedback in the triggers, letting you feel the kick of a gun or the rumble of off-road driving right in your fingers. Right now it's a bit of gimmick, but you never know what some clever developer might do with it.

Comparing the two side-by-side, we prefer the Xbox One's controller to PS4's DualShock 4. However, Sony's controller has a few features we wish Microsoft would had adopted.

The Xbox One is still using AA batteries for power, while Sony has been building a rechargeable cell right into its controller since the DualShock 3. Microsoft sells that functionality separately in the form of the Play and Charge Kit. At $25, it's asking a lot, since extra controllers are already $60 a pop.

The Xbox One's controller doesn't have any motion features, unlike the DualShock 4, which basically has Move built right in. It's forgivable since some packages come with a Kinect, but we do think that the PS4's touchpad gives it an edge, both for casual gaming and manipulating big inventory screens.

Overall, the Xbox One controller is an improvement in every way except one: the shoulder buttons. The actions on the Xbox One's bumpers are less taught. It makes for a flimsier click, which is a real shame, since the One controller trumps the 360's build quality in every other way.

With the exception of that annoying flaw, the Xbox One has a really excellent controller. It's a pleasure to hold, the batteries last just as long as the last-gen version and making black the standard color was a wise choice, since it won't discolor as readily as the 360's white model.

Xbox Elite Wireless Controller

But Microsoft's original Xbox One gamepad isn't the only controller in town. At E3 2015, Xbox boss Phil Spencer had a new piece of kit to show off: the all-new Xbox Elite Wireless Controller.

Sporting metal components, four programmable macro buttons, interchangeable parts and customizable triggers, Microsoft's new piece of plastic has premium written all over it.

In our hands on review, we noted that the Elite controller gives serious gamers - the ones who go through more than one gamepad a year - a solid option instead of choosing a third-party remote like they've had to do in the past. The ability to change thumb sticks from a concave top to a rounded shape is appreciated, and the ability to cut the registering distance of the triggers in half is a nice touch for fans of the first-person shooter. You can also customize the macros via a first-party app on the Xbox One.

Two downsides we noticed were that the controller still uses batteries and Microsoft refuses to include a $25 play-and-charge kit, despite the Elite costing a whopping $149 (likely £99, AU$199).

Kinect

The Xbox One's Kinect is a combination camera and microphone. It lets the system see you, hear you, react to your commands or just your presence. It also has an IR blaster that can interact with your TV and other appliances.

Physically, it's bigger than the Xbox 360's Kinect. It's wider, heavier, more rectangular and cannot be mounted to the top of your TV, at least not as-is out of the box. Also, unlike the 360's Kinect, it doesn't move on its own to keep you in frame. Microsoft has replaced that slightly unnerving feature with an optical zoom. The Kinect can be manually tilted, but you only need to do so during the initial setup.

There's a wizard that makes calibration quite painless and only needs to be repeated if you make major changes to your living room setup. The first time you run it you'll introduce Kinect to your face. Once seems to be enough, the Kinect was shockingly good at picking people out beneath glasses and facial hair.

Some checks do need to be repeated if you move the Kinect: making sure it can see enough of the floor and that the mic is tuned to hear you. The system will ask you to crank up your speakers so it can blast a few notes for a sound check. This makes sure Kinect can hear you over the TV. This whole setup process takes less than five minutes.

The Kinect sees you and hears you, letting you navigate menus with your voice or gesture commands. Being able to go from the first Home screen to your pins with a wave is nice, but beyond that the onscreen hand cursor is more trouble than it's worth. It's twitchy and doesn't recognize a "press" very well.

For voice commands, the Kinect's mic can reliably hear you over TV audio, but conversation and background noise gives it trouble. It's best used when there's little going on in the room besides playing Xbox. You also need to stick to rather rigid command syntax so it understands you.

Everything you say has to begin with "Xbox." "Xbox go to Forza Motorsport 5" will launch said racing game. It sounds simple enough but you'll find plenty of ways to trip over it. For example, saying play rather than go to, or Forza instead of the game's entire name. Kinect is no Siri when it comes to interpreting the way people actually talk.

A lot of the command phrasing isn't terribly intuitive either. For example, "Xbox on" turns on the system, but "Xbox turn off" switches it off. Forgetting to say "turn" or putting it where it doesn't belong usually results in no response from the Kinect.

Hopefully Kinect's voice commands will improve and become less rigid over time. Siri and Google Now have certainly come a long way. As of now, Xbox One's interface jammed with tutorials and lists of phrases; Microsoft knows there's a lot to learn and it's doing its best to compensate. See a full list of Kinect commands here.

Kinect makes a lot of basic functions convenient and fun. Pausing a movie, returning to the home screen and switching between snapped apps worked quite well. However, anything beyond simple commands can quickly get frustrating. Using it to navigate to specific channels in the OneGuide is fraught with errors.

The least reliable command is ironically the most basic. We frequently found ourselves saying "Xbox on" several times before the system would come to life. While it would sometimes snap to attention at first utterance, we never what we had done right, or wrong.

Also, while you can easily setup the Kinect's IR blaster to automatically power on your TV, it might be a good option to skip. If your TV is already on when you say "Xbox On," it'll turn it off. A lot of universal remotes have the same problem.

At its best the Kinect compliments the Xbox One's interface by giving you options. You can go between speech, gestures and controller input without even bothering to tell the Kinect "stop listening." The bevy of options is impressive, and amusing.

Don't think that the Kinect is ever not listening though. This thing can turn on the system, remember? It's basically in standby all the time. While we think that Microsoft has better things to do than monitor what people are up to in their living rooms, the idea of an always on microphone is a bit disconcerting in the era of the NSA.

Starting on June 9, Microsoft began selling Xbox One consoles without a pack-in Kinect for $399 (£350, AU$499 - the same price as Sony's PS4). There has been no price announced for a stand-alone Kinect, but that doesn't seem to phase most consumers. There could be whole articles written about how Microsoft has backpedaled on almost every facet of its original Xbox One design - some of which can be found on this website - but the fact that Microsoft has decoupled the Kinect from the Xbox One has proven that it is unessential to the Xbox experience.

Performance

Microsoft's bid for living room supremacy is powered by an 8 core AMD processor, backed by 8GB of DDR3 and 32MB of ultra fast ESRAM. For storage, there's a 500GB hard drive to keep your media, gameplay videos and game installs. Unlike the PlayStation 4, there's no swapping out that mechanical drive for solid state without considerable trouble, and letting your warranty fly right out the window.

(Update: At Gamescom 2014, Microsoft announced a Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare bundle that will have an upgraded 1TB hard drive and will retail for $499, £429, €499, and about AU$538 without a Kinect sensor.)

Speaking of windows, if you've used Windows 8, the Xbox One's interface will look familiar. It's made up of tiles and divided into four sections: Pins, Home, Friends and Store. It's somewhat customizable, letting you pick the color of said tiles, but mostly works by automatically populating itself with your recently accessed apps and games.

Interface

When you first turn on your Xbox One, you're greeted by your Home screen. It's composed of a primary rectangular tile, which is your current app, ready to resume as soon as you give the command.

To left you'll find your Gamertag profile, complete with Gamerscore, Bio, Location, Inbox count and a number of active friends. (Update: The November system update will allow users to modify their profile even more by adding a highlight "showcase" - a mix of six achievements, screenshots and gameplay clips - to the relatively bare profiles.) To the right you'll find Snap, and My Games & Apps. Snap allows you to have games and apps side by side, a sort of picture in picture for multitasking. More on that in a moment.

My Games & Apps is self explanatory, a place where you can browse what's been installed to your console. Games and apps used to be presented in one jumbled feed, but Microsoft's March update to the Xbox One divided the two. It also added an percentage readout for the overall available space on the system, another much needed addition.

The bottom row of tiles on the Home Screen is populated by other recently used apps and games. It does an excellent job of keeping your most commonly used programs at a touch. Hitting the Xbox button on the controller brings you Home with lighting speed, and the row of tiles at the bottom of Home screen populate with your other recent apps, making it easy and quick to hop between commonly used programs.

The rest of Home is covered in tiles for other recently accessed apps. Besides your Live profile and the current app preview, Snap and My games & apps are the other permanent residents. There's also a tile representing the disc drive, and three large Featured tiles.

When the Xbox One first launched, the Featured section was filled with tutorials for the Xbox One. Now it curates a selection of ads for games, shows and movies. While it's annoying to se ads on the front page, at least they're relegated to the far right side, and do let you quickly jump into a new game or show with one or to clicks.

To the left of the Home screen you'll find your Pins, a favorites list you can customize with games, apps or TV shows. You may remember pins from the Xbox 360, but they're far more convenient and powerful on the Xbox One.

For one thing, they're practically living on the Home screen, just a scroll to the left away, while the 360 tucked them into their own folder. Being able to save a specific show or TV channel to Pins is the Xbox One's media integration at its most convenient.

In between the Home and Store screen is the interface's newest addition - the Friends tab. Here you'll find out which games your friends have been playing - and any possible achievements that may have t'plok'd recently - as well as a gamerscore leaderboard that displays which of your friends has earned the most points in the past month.

To the right of the Friends screen is the Store. It's divided into Games, Movies & TV, Music and Apps. There's also a Bing search bar below it. The layout is attractive and the placement is unobtrusive. We're just glad that it's been relegated to its own screen, away from the more personal Home and Pins.

When you're in an app or game, returning to the Home screen is as simple as pressing the Xbox button on the controller. Games are automatically paused, while videos and live TV continue to play, creating a sort of picture in picture effect.

Of course, the whole interface can also be navigated by Kinect, using either gestures or voice commands. The Xbox One's interface does have its unintuitive moments, and the Kinect compensates for them nicely. We're not sure why Settings has been folded into My games & apps, but being able to shout "Xbox go to Settings" saves you from having to remember that.

When it comes to booting up, the Xbox One is very fast because it doesn't really turn off unless you unplug it. Holding down the Xbox button and selecting console off really just puts it in standby mode.

Surely the Xbox One needs this hidden standby functionality both for better performance, and so the Kinect can listen for your "Xbox on" command. It does stand in contrast to the PS4, which lets you choose to either go into standby, or completely turn the system off. Fully shutting down your PS4 also locks you out of cool features, like PS Vita Remote Play, or starting a download from the mobile app.

Coming out of standby, the Xbox One takes only twenty seconds to reach the Home screen. Kinect will have you signed in by then as well, unless you're sitting too far back. We sometimes had to lean forward before it recognized us.

From a full, unplugged shut down, the Xbox One takes a less impressive minute and seven seconds. Honestly though, there's no reason why you should be frequently unplugging your Xbox One. We just think it's odd that console off really means standby.

So while not every design choice is transparent, you can't accuse the Xbox One's interface of being sluggish. There's no pop in on the Home screen, and overall navigation is snappy. You can drill through menus and browse your library as quickly as you can manipulate the D-pad, or bark at the Kinect.

Multitasking is where the Xbox One really shines. The system keeps your last three apps suspended, letting you switch between them with nary a stutter.

What's surprising is how little is on the system when you first get it. When you first use your Xbox One you'll frequently click on a tile, only to discover you don't actually have the corresponding app yet. Out of the box, almost nothing is pre-installed. That makes sense for third-party services, but apps like Game DVR, Xbox Video, even the Blu-ray playing software need to be downloaded and installed.

It's not such a big deal, just a telling indication of how internet-reliant this new generation of gaming will be. Be sure get all your pertinent apps downloaded before having friends over to show off the new system.

Games

Every game on the Xbox One requires at least a partial installation before it can be played. These installs are lengthier than on PlayStation 4, but not by much.

For example, a disc copy of Madden for Xbox One needed six minutes to reach 25% installation before letting us on the gridiron. The PS4 version needed two minutes, and an additional minute to download a patch before online features were enabled.

Installing isn't a major roadblock on either system, but it is something to anticipate. It's a good idea to pop a new game in the drive the minute you get home. That way you can be sure it'll be ready when you are.

Like the PS4, the Xbox One still needs a disc to play. That's a pity, as being to ditch a disc after an install would make for a much more self-contained feel.

Getting to graphics and gameplay, a lot has been made of the fact that many third-party games run in full 1080p on the PS4, while the Xbox One versions are 720p. There are indeed sharper visuals to be found on the PS4's versions of Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts and Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, but you need a keen eye to tell the difference.

Character models often have more detailed textures, and lighting effects can be slightly more impressive on the PS4. However, performance across the two systems is very similar, with equally smooth framerates and load times that are close in length.

The 720p vs 1080p situation is still troubling, Microsoft will need to close this visual gap in future releases. It's something we'll be keeping an eye on as we update this review down the line.

The Xbox One has first-party games that show off just as much graphical gusto as the PS4. Ryse: Son of Rome and Forza Motorsport 5 are just as gorgeous as anything currently available from Sony. Dead Rising 3 is a bit behind the beauty curve but the sheer number of zombies it can render while maintaining a solid framerate is impressive.

Must-Own Games

Yes the Xbox One is big and powerful, but what can I play on it? A legitimate question, if there ever was one. While the Xbox One is still building up its library, and value concious gamers would do well wait for some discounted Platinum Hits to emerge, early adopters will find enough to scratch their next-gen itch.

For a comprehensive rundown of the best Xbox One currently has to offer, we turn to sister site GamesRadar. If you still need something to play after reading this, check their list of the best Xbox One games.

Titanfall

This is the Xbox One's Halo, the game meant to sell systems and get people playing and paying on Xbox Live. It's multiplayer only, so don't pick it up unless you want to in online. If you do though, you won't be disappointed. It's a fast-paced, dynamic showdown of man versus machine versus man inside of a machine.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QY7mjZ5Wmw

From GamesRadar's review:

"Titanfall blends familiar concepts with innovative ideas in remarkable ways, leading to a nearly nonstop supply of awesome moments. But for as fun as it is, you'll likely find yourself wishing Respawn was more ambitious when it comes to game modes, since there's a good chance you've captured enough flags for one lifetime."

Forza Horizon 2

Let's face it, Gran Turismo is asleep at the wheel and the only way to put the pedal to the metal is on Xbox One. Forza Horizon 2 is the latest from Turn 10 and Playground Games that allows you to tune to your heart's content or, if that's not you thing, hop into a totally tuned ride and get down and dirty in rally races at the tap of a button.

From GamesRadar's review:

"The Forza series is a tale of two different racing games. On the one hand, you have Forza Motorsport, the serious and sterile racing simulator. On the other, you have its Ecstasy-gobbling, Burning Man-attending hip racing cousin Forza Horizon. Apparently, Motorsport convinced Horizon to share some of its drugs, and the two have joined forces to give us Forza Horizon 2: a sprawling open-world racer that can be as arcadey or as sim-y as you want it to be, and is an excellent addition to the series."

Sunset Overdrive

Sunset Overdrive's developer, Insomniac, has been around for a very long time. They're the ones who gave us Spyro, Ratchet & Clank and, more recently, Resistance: Fall of Man on the PS3. Now they've turning to Microsoft's new system for their next project, a combination of raucous punk music and eye-popping color palettes set in what can only be described as a post-apocalyptic playground.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMnjoqr5glk

From GamesRadar's review:

"Sunset Overdrive is an exciting, self-confident thrill ride with strengths that easily make up for its weaknesses. Insomniac has proven that it can craft some of the most thrilling open-world acrobatics in gaming, and the upbeat, punk rock attitude dulls the pain of the so-so gunplay and dopey real-world references. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get back to grinding on street lights and wall-running around skyscrapers."

Halo: The Master Chief Collection

Halo: The Master Chief Collection offers all the value of one of those four-in-one PC games but is, you know, actually fun to play. The Master Chief Collection combines Halo, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4 and houses them in a completely HD-ified package. You'll get access to every Halo map ever made, too, if you'd rather frag your friends than relive one of the greatest videogame trilogies of our time.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPGPiSpTw4w

From GamesRadar's review:

"Effectively a Halo jukebox, the MCC's aim is to give you the Halo you want, customised to your own tastes, however and whenever you want it. Whatever your interpretation of, and preferences within, the series, this is your tool for realising them on a whim. A build-your-own-Halo kit of immense value to learned series enthusiast and eager-to-learn newbie alike."

Destiny

Calling Destiny ambitious is a disservice to the game. It's an ambient world (er, galaxy) that operates in real time. It combines single- and multiplayer into a single campaign, seamlessly transitioning between the two. It's from the team that made Halo, so while Destiny may not have the iconic face of Master Chief plastered on the box, it will have the same creative minds doing what they do best: sci-fi.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeDaevD7cEo

From GamesRadar's Destiny preview:

"Bungie had a lot to do with what the first person shooter has become today. Now that the developer's time with the landmark Halo series is over, the developer is setting out with a brand new IP. With the company's next project--an open, shared-world shooter called Destiny--it looks like the creators of Master Chief are aiming to change the face of the shooter once again."

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

Advanced Warfare may be the biggest change for the franchise since the seminal launch of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Multiplayer is fast and fierce thanks to the addition of the Exo suit, and the single-player campaign resonates with everyone scared of another international meltdown. Call of Duty has had its foibles, but Advanced Warfare isn't one of them.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnPZWaui3ao

From GamesRadar's review:

"Franchise fatigue be damned. Sometimes a game comes into a series and does things a little bit differently. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare aims to change the formula for the better with a new setting and futuristic tech, and it succeeds with several game-changing features."

Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

AC IV: Black Flag is a funny thing. It's both a return to form for the series, and bit of a hard left into full-on pirate mode. Do all the classic Assassin's Creed bits, leaping from above onto unsuspecting prey, then hop aboard your frigate and broadside an enemy ship with a volley of cannon fire. AC IV might be the best AC game, but it's definitely the pirate game ever made.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDAac0xNoZQ

Note: the above video was crafted from footage of the PS4 version of the game, which looks slightly better. AC IV still looks spectacular on the Xbox One though, trust me, I've played them both.

From GamesRadar's review:

"An ambitious start for Assassin's Creed on next-gen. The vibrant Caribbean world and bloody piracy shine brightest, while the only sour notes come from contrived series story beats and repetitive missions--both need rethinking for AC5."

Watch Dogs

Imagine the best Matrix game never made and add in a bit of Assassin's Creed-style exploration. What you've got is Ubisoft Montreal's Watch_Dogs. Following Aiden Pierce as he dismantles a power-mad society from the inside out, the game is an absolute blast and one of the biggest games of 2014.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DnMdUQxago

From GamesRadar's Watch Dogs review:

"Watch Dogs' interconnected world is a wonderful, explosive, high-tech playground. Shame the people who inhabit it are so forgettable."

Games Coming Soon

It's not enough to have four or five stand-out games available on your console; what you really need are great games waiting in the wings, ready to launch this holiday season.

Thankfully, the Xbox One has these in spades. From Bungie's next big first-person shooter, Destiny, to the frenetic, post-apocalyptic playground, Sunset Overdrive, there's a slew of triple-AAA titles coming our way this fall - many of which are exclusive to the Xbox One.

Quantum Break

Release date: TBA 2015

If you asked us one year ago what Quantum Break was about, I don't think we'd be able to tell you. It's one part live-action drama, one part third-person shooter and the resulting concoction is one helluva trans-media experience. Sadly, it looks like we'll have to wait until 2015 to see (er, play) it.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4g7a8Pbzog

From GamesRadar's Quantum Break preview:

"Quantum Break isn't just a game; it's a transmedia experience, with much of its story told via a live-action television series … During certain parts of the game, you'll have to make decisions that will drastically alter the course of your story, which also creates a personalized live-action television series tailored to your choices."

Halo 5: Guardians

Release date: Q4 2015

Last we left Master Chief, things weren't going his way. He lost his moral compass, and was brought to the brink of insanity by the Forerunners. Guardians will tell two stories; one about Master Chief, and another about a new Spartan, Agent Locke. At a press event at E3, we learned we're still going to have to wait until 2015 to see said Halo game, but until then we've got Halo: The Master Chief Collection to look forward to in the fall.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqrC0-_QG9A

Fable Legends

Release date: TBA 2015

The Fable series is no stranger to a few bumps in the road. The original shocked and amazed audiences on Xbox, while Fable 2 was over-hyped before under-delivering. Fable 3 was a return to form for Lionhead Studios but the ending jilted many of its most committed fans. Fable Legends is going to be entirely different than any Fable game before it. It's a four-player game that puts you with three of your closest friends against the hordes of evil in Albion. You'll need to watch your back when the game comes to Xbox One sometime in 2015.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98zJwigBvBY

Scalebound

Release date: TBA

We know almost nothing about Scalebound except that it's made by PlatinumGames and renowned Game Director Hideki Kamiya. And, to be honest, that's enough for us to reserve a copy or two. Scalebound will be an adventure game that pairs you with a scaled monstrous beast, that looks like half-action game, half-brutally hard RPG. Whatever it turns out to be, we can't wait to get it.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7IxFtVuZwg

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Release date: TBA

Tomb Raider, despite what anyone else tells you, was easily the best game in 2013. It put us in the shoes of a young, frightened and completely out-of-her-element Lara Croft, and did an excellent job of making us feel powerless in an overwhelming situation. We had to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and, in the face of death, trudge on to the next checkpoint. Lara's 2015 adventure has a lot to live up to, yes, but I believe whole-heartedly that it can deliver.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF07oLpHEBw

Crackdown

Release date: TBA

When Crackdown released on the Xbox 360 in 2007, it was a game we never knew we wanted - an interesting mix of third-person shooter and action games built around a mob boss dossier. You could drive a police cruiser around the open world cityscape only to run into a shootout that you could stop, or if you're feeling apathetic, leave the non-super powered law enforcers to handle.

We're expecting this same sense of freedom and innovation with the third installment of the series when it comes exclusively to Xbox One in 2015.

Media

The Xbox One wants to be the one system that handles all the entertainment in your living room. Movies, music and, of course, games, it's set up to do it all.

From streaming apps to cable integration to Microsoft's own services, the Xbox One certainly seems equipped to do it all. We're just glad Microsoft bit the bullet and put a 3D-enabled Blu-Ray drive in its system. The Xbox One also plays CDs, something the PlayStation 4 currently doesn't do. Still, can the Xbox One really handle the potentially backbreaking load of the living room?

OneGuide and HDMI-in

If you're in North America, the Xbox One can integrate your cable or satellite feed thanks to an HDMI-in port. Anyone who's had cable installed in their home probably shudders at the thought of fooling with that precarious mix of coaxial and HDMI, but fear not, setting it up is easier than finding your cable company's service number.

After connecting your cable box to the Xbox One via HDMI there's a setup wizard to take you through all the steps. All you need to know is your service provider and zip code. Punch that in and the Xbox does the rest.

The result is the OneGuide, live TV on your game console organized a lot like your cable's built-in menu. It can be navigated just like the One's general interface, with speech, gestures, the controller or SmartGlass.

The OneGuide menu is accurate, but not fast. Scrolling quickly often gives you an empty menu that needs a few seconds before the listings pop in. We've never had that problem with our DirecTV menu. If you only watch a few channels, the OneGuide's favorite list will serve you well, and if you're just want a "best of" option, Microsoft will start offering a curated list of content called "What's On."

Using Kinect commands with the OneGuide can also be a headache. While it easily understands page up or page down, telling it to go to specific channels can be rather inaccurate. It often tripped over all the different acronyms that make up station names, and sometimes struggled with something as simple as Comedy Central.

Our favorite part of the Xbox One's cable integration wasn't the OneGuide, is was being able to save specific channels and movies to our Pins for fast access. We also liked how TV listings were integrated in search results alongside streaming services. For example, if you used Bing to search for a movie, the results will include the next time it's showing on TV, as well as places to buy or rent it.

The Xbox One is also hit or miss with 5.1 sound integration. There's some extra configuration you have to work through, and while we were able to get it running, others have reported that it degrades sound quality, or just doesn't work at all. That part of the service is marked as in beta, so Microsoft is working on it.

Lastly, while that HDMI-in is meant for TV, you can use it for anything with an HDMI port. Before you get too excited, we should tell you that it's slightly too laggy for gaming. Forget about playing Killzone: Shadow Fall or Super Mario 3D World via the Xbox One, it's a much better experience plugged directly into your TV.

Streaming apps

When consoles aren't playing games they're often streaming movies, either through Netflix, Amazon Instant or Hulu Plus. While it's still waiting on some key apps, the Xbox One wrangles that functionality by letting you search for programming across all your services, as well as your cable.

This runs through the Bing search function. Either by typing or talking to Bing, you can ask it for, say, Breaking Bad. The search results show you all the places where you can see the sad saga of Walter White.

For us, that meant that it was available on Netflix Instant. It also reminded us that we had a few episodes in our Amazon Instant library, we saw links to buy episodes on the Xbox Marketplace and got a heads up about reruns on AMC over the weekend. All these options were presented in one result page.

It's not a perfect all in one search tough. When we asked Bing for The Matrix, it showed us when it would be on TV, and gave us links to rent it from Xbox Video, Vudu and Redbox Instant. We didn't even have those last two apps installed. Meanwhile it ignored Amazon Instant, an app we'd been using, which had it for rent at the same price.

Streaming video services are hugely segmented. It would be fantastic to have a search that can present all the options in one place. Bing search comes close, but still overlooks certain media options, so you can't rely on it 100%.

For streaming apps, Xbox and PS4 are neck and neck. Both have the big guys like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu Plus, however, HBO Go recently launched on Xbox One, giving it one leg up on the competition. While PS4 has separate NHL and NBA apps, Xbox has ESPN. Right now, though, only Xbox has an official NFL app.

What about users who have their own media collection? The Xbox 360 offered users numerous services to stream movies and music from a local server to their system, but until now Xbox One gamers were forced into using the proprietary Microsoft media player app. Flex, a service similar to XBMC, will be the next generation of media center apps - and it's available only on the Xbox One starting in October. (Editor's note: We'll update this review once we've set up our own media server and tested the software.)

Xbox Music

Sony has Music Unlimited, Xbox has Xbox Music, and both services are doing their best to impersonate Spotify. Xbox Music has a library of comparable size, just like Spotify it charges $10 a month for unlimited streaming across your console, PC, phone and tablet.

When we reviewed the PS4, we noted how poor the Channel (radio) service was at finding music we liked. Xbox Music's Radio function is much better at song matching, but its Sony's Music Unlimited that has the better background interface.

To have music going while playing a game, Xbox Music relies on app snapping. That's a pretty nonsensical choice, since it forces you to give up precious screen space for an app you only need to hear, not see. Why on earth doesn't it just run in the background?

Other than that it's a fine music service. While playing in full screen on your TV it cycles through sharp looking album art and band photos. You can listen to whole albums, or create a radio mix. If you're playing a mix, you can zoom out and see the songs that are coming next.

Still, the lack of proper background playback is a deal breaker. While it's a fine way to just play music if your Xbox One is hooked into your stereo, it's not a great way to hear tunes while playing some Killer Instinct, which seems like the whole point of putting music and games on the same system.

Hopefully Microsoft will patch in some background functionality. Until then you're better off with a separate music service.

Xbox Live

Microsoft introduced Xbox Live at the tail-end of the original Xbox's shelf life, but it was on the Xbox 360 that it became the fleshed out, full featured online service that we know today. Now that more and more console features are internet dependent, a strong web connection, as well as buying into the console's online service, is a basic requirement.

Xbox Live

For the majority of the last console generation, Xbox Live was the reigning king of online gaming networks. Offering dedicated multiplayer servers and a new game every month, Xbox Live may not have been free like PSN, but PlayStation owners got what they paid for.

Xbox Live on Xbox One is a precarious proposition. It still offers everything that made it so great in the past but, now that the system is more internet-dependant than ever, there's even more that's walled off until you pay up. This means you won't be able to use new services like Game DVR to upload videos or utilize cloud saving until you upgrade to Gold. Worse, you won't even be able to participate in party chat until you've given you've paid your yearly pittance to Microsoft. And if you're not already a member, Microsoft won't let you forget about what you're missing. You'll find advertisements plastered all over your dashboard that have the same message: Get Gold and you'll have a better time.

The good, probably expected, news is that your account from the Xbox 360 will carry over to the Xbox One and, better, if you still have your Xbox 360, your account will have Gold no matter which system you're using. You'll also be entitled to four potential games per month, two on Xbox 360 and two on Xbox One. Xbox Live's most basic services should look familiar to what you knew on the 360. You can message friends, join groups for voice chat or send typed-up messages. However, Microsoft no longer lets you record and send audio messages.

Downloading a digitally purchased game from Xbox Live is just as swift as on Sony's servers and, starting in August, can even be done remotely via Xbox.com or SmartGlass. Back at home, games can be played in mid-download, letting you dive into titles before the massive files finishes arriving.

The only real problem we see is that updates are continuously rolling onto the system. It seems like every time we go to turn it on, it needs another 70-plus MB update in order to watch a simple YouTube video. Of course the point could be made that we can always leave the system in standby mode to circumvent all the updates, but honestly, a system shouldn't need an update every two days.

When you finally do decide to join up with Gold, it feels like a luxury service. Free games every month, plus dedicated servers that ensure smooth online gameplay. It may not give you exclusive access to upcoming demos like PlayStation Plus once did - for that you'll want to look at EA Access - but Xbox Live Gold generally still feels like a good value.

Verdict

As much as we'd like to think it is, the Xbox One isn't radically different from one year ago. It's still Microsoft's ambitious all-in-one media center that has hopes for conquering your living room. It's still got the better console-exclusive games and paid online service. But it's also improved since then, too. It's $150 cheaper if you're buying a system without a Kinect and the changes to Snap, Game DVR and the interface were all welcome, coherent upgrades.

It's still not perfect, though. At its core, the Xbox One is an Internet-dependent box that needs a subscription to Xbox Live Gold to get anywhere in most games. Destiny and Titanfall, two of last year's stand-out games were completely sterile experiences without an Xbox Live Gold subscription. And while the constant updates from Redmond have given gamers good reason to choose Xbox over Sony, I have reservations whether any software - DirectX 12 included -will be able to improve the inferior hardware. Decoupling Kinect and the $150 price drop will ultimately save the system, but doing so was a slap in the face of early adopters.

Being four million units behind in sales has put a fire under Microsoft, leading to more updates and more exclusives than its closest competitor. So, you ask yourself, is it worth jumping in now at $349 or wait just another six months to see if I can get a cheaper bundle down the road? Let's break it down.

We liked

Even though Sony has the market cornered on the whole "for gamers, by gamers" phrase, Microsoft makes a pretty compelling case for the title. With more platform-exclusive games, an eye on the indie scene and its promotional Games with Gold deal, the Xbox One is a game console any gamer could love. Games like Forza Motorsport 5 and Sunset Overdrive are a visual feast with plenty of depth and pair nicely with the Game DVR feature, and upcoming games like Halo 5: Guardians and Crackdown have us on the edge of our seats with anticipation.

One of its biggest strengths is that the One has tapped into the social media zeitgeist where we want to share, upload and promote everything we see and do on a console. Plus, with Twitch we're able to stream to our heart's content, all without the need for peripheral hardware.

The Xbox One feels more like a media titan today than it did 12 months ago, and that's something everyone involved should feel good about. That's due, in part, to Microsoft lifting the Xbox Live Gold requirement to access apps like Netflix, HBO Go and Amazon Instant video. That said, Xbox One is the best place to see TV alongside streaming media. Being able to perform a Bing search for a show and see when it will be on next as well as the places to rent or buy it is fantastic. There's still a ways to go here, but the fact that we can seamlessly switch from streamed content to live TV to live streaming our own gameplay all in a matter of 30 seconds is no small feat.

Finally, exclusive deals with EA and Activision have given gamers who swore fealty to Shepard or feel the need to be the first to play Call of Duty's new maps a place to call home. EA Access offers tremendous value for those of us who don't mind playing some older titles, and gives you access to certain titles five days ahead of everyone else.

We disliked

We don't don't know about you, but we're not in love with the idea of monolithic system taking up a quarter of our media cabinet. The Xbox One is big, bulky a looks like it was designed to replace the VCR, not the Xbox 360. The controllers, thankfully, are much different story. They're loads better than they were before, both tightly tuned and laser precise. What's lacking, though, are built-in rechargeable batteries and visual indicators of who's who on the controller itself. It's easy to forgive Microsoft for forgetting these one or two minor details, but the fact that the solution - a play and charge kit - is out there and they charge an extra $25 for it, is slightly insulting.

But the controller debacle is only half as insulting as the way Microsoft handled Kinect. Once a mandatory pack-in, Microsoft heralded Kinect as the future of gaming and a vital part of the next-gen experience. Nine months down the road however, Microsoft chops the Kinect from the bundle, tells us that it actually frees up some extra memory and puts a new package, sans Kinect, for $100 less.

Moreover, Kinect commands in general are very rigid and only helpful once you've taken the time to learn the syntax verbatim. We weren't expecting Siri, but you have to talk to it in very precise, often unintuitive ways to make it understand.

Xbox Live hasn't improved much since the Xbox 360, and too many of the Xbox's best games are walled off if you're not a Gold subscriber. Xbox Live Gold is so essential to the system that it should almost be mandatory at checkout. And, if you're not already a member, Microsoft won't let you forget about what you're missing. You'll find advertisements plastered all over your dashboard that have the same message: Get Gold and you'll have a better time.

It also doesn't help that the system constantly needs to update something. It seems like every time we go to turn it on, it needs another 70-plus MB update in order to watch a simple YouTube video. Of course the point could be made that we can always leave the system in standby mode to circumvent all the updates, but honestly, a system shouldn't need an update every two days.

Last but not least, some third-party titles run in 720p or 900p and suffer from pop-in and stuttering, and that simply shouldn't be the case on a next-gen system. You might need to pause the game and have a look to tell, but there are noticeable differences between Xbox One and PS4 versions, with the PS4 coming out on top.

Final verdict

Xbox One is finally picking up steam. It's moved to sell at $350 and there are a plethora of great, platform-exclusive games ready to pick up right now, not down the road in 2015. It's the best place for media enthusiasts with DLNA support, removed Xbox Live Gold requirements to access streaming services and the much-improved OneGuide. There's still a lot of potential locked away inside the hardware of the system that developers are just beginning to figure out. So while PlayStation might have the upper hand for now when it comes to certain third-party titles, it may not always remain that way.

In truth, Microsoft hasn't had the best year. But progress is painful, and that's what we've seen. Thanks to reduced pricing and clearer consumer messaging it's likely that Xbox can brush the dust off before entering the next year of its lifecycle, which will be full of great new games like Halo 5: Guardians, Evolve and Fable Legends. Microsoft, at least in the gaming world, started with nothing and made it this far, so anything and everything is possible if it's motivated to see it through.

The world is yours, Xbox, all you need to do is reach out and take it.

PlayStation Vue review

Update #1: Showtime's new standalone service is officially available to PlayStation Vue subscribers starting today. The service costs$10.99 a month, though PlayStation Plus members can get it at just $8.99 a month. Showtime is also offering a free 30-day trial.

Update #2: Sony announced at E3 2015 that it plans on bringing its PlayStation Vue service to California in 2015. Both Los Angeles and San Francisco will join the three existing cities with service - Philadelphia, New York and Chicago.

Original review follows...

Sony's had a mixed year of PlayStation software launches. From the outlandishly-priced PlayStation Now to the much-improved PlayStation Music that replaced Music Unlimited in March, it seems like new releases are either falling flat on their face or hitting it out of the park, with only a product or two landing in between.

PlayStation Vue, the new live TV streaming service that intends to compete with Sling TV and the (assumed) upcoming Apple TV service, had all the makings of a home run. It has loads of content (over 80 channels if you shell out for the "elite" package), is able to record an unlimited amount of live TV for up to 28 days and uses something 20 million people already own, the PS4.

So what happened?

For better and worse, PlayStation Vue copied some of cable's foibles and faux-pas, and yet succeeds in some ways the big services simply cannot. Vue introduces new headaches, like dealing with download speeds; while alleviating some of the problems that plagued cable, like service fees and inescapable contracts. Vue gets content recommendation on a level that few services seem to understand, while at the same time failing to completely give you everything you want in one affordable package.

Parlez-Vue PlayStation?

Before we dig deep into the pros and cons of Sony's wannabe cable killer, let's spend a minute on what PlayStation Vue is and how it works.

PlayStation Vue is a US-only cable service that takes both traditional cable channels and over-the-air content from sources like NBC, CBS and FOX and combines them into a single app for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and iPad.

So far Sony only sells three types of packages that vary in price and amount of channels, starting at $49 a month and goes up to $69 for the all-inclusive pass. It's worth noting that, because the service depends on local cable stations for content from NBC, CBS and FOX, Sony needs to individually negotiate with each station before bringing the service to a new location. So far, Sony has made deals in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Sony has also told us that it will add a channel for PlayStation originals – like Powers – once it ramps up production in the coming year, as well as Showtime's new standalone streaming service once it goes live in early July.

Like Sling TV, PlayStation Vue requires that your device be connected to the internet while watching and speeds of at least 10Mbps to get a full-resolution, uninterrupted picture.

Device support

PlayStation Vue is available on PS3 and PS4, as well as iPad. (The latter requires a PlayStation 4 to sign up, however.) To download it, you need to live in one of the five markets – Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or San Francisco – and have a valid credit card on file with Sony.

If you own any of Sony's other devices like the PlayStation Vita or PlayStation TV, however, you're out of luck. Sony has told other outlets that while there's a chance Vue will end up on these platforms eventually, it probably won't happen anytime soon.

Interface

PlayStation Vue's interface is exactly what you'd expect from a Sony-made app. There's menus for live TV, recommended content, your favorite shows, as well as a traditional TV guide. Everything on the menu with the exception of the guide is arranged in tiles on a grid, creating a sense that Sony's placing more about the show than its source.

The interface, while not the most intuitive in the world, is serviceable. Trying to browse for shows through the guide takes a bit longer than I would've liked, as Vue only shows four or five channels' worth of content at a time, but eventually you'll get where you want to go.

Performance

PlayStation Vue, like Sling TV, Plex, Netflix and every other streaming service, can only do so much to create a seamless experience. The rest really falls upon your home network.

If you have a slow internet connection – let's say, 5Mbps or less – you can probably expect a lot of hiccups, stuttering and low-resolution video. Stepping up to around 10Mbps will net you a solid connection and will almost guarantee a solid connection, but a lower-than-average resolution.

It's not until you get to the 15-20Mbps range through a wired connection to your router that things really start to look good on PlayStation Vue. If you already have that level of internet service coming into your home, great. Just make sure your PS4 is either in range of the router or you have the ability to hardwire your system.

Final verdict

Once you've got your home network up to par, PlayStation Vue is an actually fun – if not always practical – way to watch TV. Using cloud DVR to record shows for up to 28 days means you won't have to fight with your significant other for space on the TiVo while the recommendations will continually push new and exciting content in front of your face.

But ultimately, because packages start at $49 for 45 channels you may or may not want to watch, you might end up overpaying for content. Also, keep in mind that at least four or five of those channels are available over-the-air for free with a digital tuner and antenna.

If you already own a PS4 or PS3 and a relatively fast internet package, and plan to use the iPad functionality when it becomes available, then PlayStation Vue could be one solution for you to cut down on the cable bill. If you aren't in that situation or are just trying a cable alternative for the first time, PlayStation Vue is merely a lively alternative to the better, prime time-ready options out there.

E3 2015 hands on

Not much has changed regarding Sony's last big announcements during GDC 2015 about Project Morpheus, but E3 2015 saw a slew of new games added to the roster.

Most of the games are in pre-alpha stages with the developers hoping to launch at the same time as Morpheus during the first part of 2016.

There's still no audio input aside from headphones you manually put on, unlike the consumer version of Oculus Rift but the sound is still crisp as ever.

Several of the games I played utilized not only the Move controllers, but a modified PlayStation Sharp Shooter gun and even a bike with sensors.

I naturally gravitated toward the bike demo, because I hadn't seen it before. Created by company VirZoom, the premise of the experience was pretty simple: sit on a bike, put on a Morpheus, pedal, get fit in the VR world. Pretty awesome, right?

There were sensors attached to a bike - which can be placed on a stationary bike or your own personal bike - that wirelessly connect to the headset. Trainers keep your non-stationary bike still so you don't go flying and will be bundled at an undisclosed price with the sensors - though I was told it would be affordable.

The demo on hand involved riding a horse which could turn into a Pegasus if you find wings and then pedaled faster. Being a horse while pedaling is jarring at first but really fun once you get the hang of it. The company will expand and let you be dragons, tanks and a bunch of other random things you wouldn't expect.

The other games involved the more conventional Move controllers but were still immensely fun and immersive.

Impulse Games wants to make a shooter with the Morpheus and what it has so far is a simple yet enjoyable game where creatures like spiders pop up to attack you. There's a lot of movement involved and you're standing the whole time while using the thumbstick on the Move navigation controller to walk around. It's not as dizzying as it sounds though which was a nice surprise.

I did however get a little nauseous playing Battle Zone, a game from Rebellion where you're in the cockpit of a spaceship shooting at aliens. Turning in virtual reality while actually being stationary wasn't a particularly pleasant experience - though I felt far worse in EVE: Valkyrie and the Oculus. But the actual game where I was zooming around shooting people was a blast.

London Heist was one of the first Morpheus games I played and really enjoyed. The mechanics of reloading and shooting were the same in the second demo from Heist except I was the passenger in a moving car. There were a lot things you could interact with like opening and closing the door - which made me feel like I was going to fall out of the car - to throwing empty cans of soda around. Shooting thugs was just as fun as I remembered and perhaps even more so because motorcycles were exploding and clips were being used up like crazy.

Super Hypercube is a game older than Project Morpheus and has been in development since 2008 but proves the VR headset is great for all sorts of games. Using a DualShock controller, you're essentially trying to fit cubes into a cutout while more cubes are added as you move through. It's almost like a horizontal, 3D Tetris with the added difficulty - and fun - of VR.

Aside from mild dizziness, the latency remained good on the other games. I couldn't detect any jitter and controllers didn't lose tracking in-game in anything I played.

Early verdict

After experiencing more games on the Morpheus, I'm more convinced we'll see it sooner rather than later in 2016. Sony already has a leg up on providing motion controllers unlike Oculus's Touch controllers which are still being developed.

The games on both platforms don't seem like they're quite ready yet and I get the sense a lot of companies are scrambling to make polished titles in time for release. However I'm confident that there will be enough titles and more released because VR is definitely the future of gaming.

GDC 2015 hands on

Sony unveiled Project Morpheus at GDC 2014 introducing us to the first real virtual reality competitor to the Oculus Rift.

GDC 2015 saw the newest evolution of Morpheus revealed to the public along with the news that, barring any complications, we'll be able to own one in the first half of 2016.

Complete with a larger 5.7-inch OLED screen with 1920 x RGB x 1080 resolution, Morpheus 2.0's leap forward is more notable than it probably sounds. The field of view has been stretched to 100 degrees, and Project Morpheus now supports an impressive 120fps output (a new SDK will let 60fps images output at 120fps, too).

It now also supports 3D audio and has a new feature called social screen, which lets users take the same gameplay they see inside their Morpheus and put it on a TV so other people can play along.

The new design is, obviously, the most noticeable part of the Morpheus. It feels far lighter than the Crescent Bay edition of the Rift - and it's far easier to put on and take off, especially for the glasses-adorned folk. The visor even fits super comfortably over large frames.

The weight distribution of Morpheus makes it much more comfortable to wear than the Oculus Rift and other headsets where you can start to feel some strain around your eyes.

The new edition is even easier to adjust - simply pushing forward with a quick release button on the bottom right of the visor will free it from your face, making making is easy to move to a comfortable spot.

There's a new single band too, which again helps with putting on and taking off the headset. Looking down might require a slight readjustment though, but on the whole it feels nice and secure - more so than the latest iteration of the Oculus Rift.

Three additional LEDS have been added on for a total of nine altogether - three can be found on each side, one on top and bottom, one smack dab in the middle of the faceplate, and two lights on the very back. All this is supposed to help improve tracking accuracy which it definitely seemed to do.

The game Sony is proudly showing off for Morpheus v2 is The London Heist, and, honestly, it might be the best VR experience yet. This is far more contained than many of the intergalactic space games and open environments that VR has been used for so far, but as we've learned over the course of our time trying out different headsets, these more intimate experiences can be the most incredible.

The game began with us sat on a chair opposite a man - who can be best described as a "London geezer" - began barking demands at us.

Moments later he was waving a blowtorch in our face and we couldn't help but recoil just a bit. Short of feeling the heat against our cheeks, this was about as real as someone thrusting a flesh cooker in your face could get. He then handed us a phone which we picked up using one of our virtual hands, both of which are controlled by the Move controllers. Those hands are noticeably detached, and while the lack of arms breaks the immersion a bit, you can understand why putting them in would cause a technical nightmare.

When we held the phone it to the side of our face, the voice from the speaker grille sounded like it was close to our ear - one of those small details that makes a remarkably big difference.

The next thing we knew we were teleported to a large room. There was a large desk in front of us, and a sense that something about about to kick off. This is where the demo started to pick up, as we were tasked with rummaging through the desk draws for a diamond. Using the Move's trigger we were able to create a clasping motion with our hand, which allowed us to pick up a torch and start rooting for the treasure.

Instead we found a handgun and some ammo - yes, it really was about to kick off. Suddenly we were aware of approaching enemies and it was time to lock and load. Grabbing the gun with one hand and a magazine clip with the other we were able to slot it in and load the weapon. It truly was one of those moments where you realise that VR is here to stay.

As the enemies starting coming in we were able to duck behind the desk for cover. Every time we sprang up we were taking down baddies (although we might have been the bad guy, we're not certain) with lifelike precision.

It wasn't perfect - we felt like the Eye sometimes had difficulty tracking our movements, especially when trying to reload the gun quickly. That may have been due to us kneeling to hide behind a VR desk, making it difficult for the camera to see our hands.

Sony claims latency issues have been addressed. It was hard to tell with this demo since it was a straightforward shooter but ducking down to avoid being shot, looking down to reload and then quickly looking up to shoot didn't make us feel sick at all.

The graphics in general were also almost on par with my previous Rift experiences which is impressive considering we were actually interacting with the environment around me instead of just looking at things.

The experience as a whole was quite incredible, and probably the most immersive we're had with VR to date. It made us want to experience something like BioShock Infinite or GTA V in VR, and this demo gave us a little sneak peek of what gaming could be like with FPS type games.

The other demo we tried involved a PS4 Dualshock controller and those little guys from Sony's augmented reality game, The Playroom.

The first part involved using the Dualshock controller to interact with the little bots. Pressing circle made music come on and cause the bots to dance, X shined a flashlight on their little faces (supremely annoying them) and so forth.

The coolest part of this demo was seeing the controller actually in virtual reality, as in whatever buttons you pushed, the VR controller would respond in sync.

The light on the controller also serves a tracking point so turning it around in your hands simultaneously turned it virtually - so what you'll see is a PS4 controller floating in front of you to help guide you. You can see this being an interesting addition to future games as it should help you feel less weird using a controller in VR.

The second part of the demo was a real treat, and we could tell the creators had a blast making it. It was reminiscent of an Oculus Rift demo we tried at CES where you're basically observing a little scene. In this case, the experience involved peering into a little dollhouse with a bunch of rooms full of AR bots as they fought over sodas, had their own Morpheus experiences, swam in a pool and more. No direct interaction or controller was used but some bots would wave and turn their heads to stare at you. One was even flying a tiny DJI drone in your face, snapping pictures which made me want to keep swatting my hands around, but of course, there was nothing there.

Hearing the 3D sound from the drone felt like it was seamlessly coming from all around us. This was the case with the previous demo too, where shooters would be placed in different locations.

Early verdict

The newest Project Morpheus is magnificent. There seem to be a few minor hiccups to sort out but it feels like the hardware is solid, and far more comfortable than a lot o VR headsets out there which is huge. No one wants to wear something bulky and restraining for more than an hour, but we can imagine you'd feel pretty comfy with a Morpheus on your noggin.

The Crescent Bay edition of Rift is equally spectacular in usage compared to Project Morpheus but it doesn't provide any real game demos to show off how well it does with interactive experiences. Granted, the Oculus team seem more keen on providing immersive experiences without peripherals opposed to full on games.

This is where the Morpheus has the edge. Its proven itself a real contender for virtual reality in your living room thanks to the incorporation of the Move controllers and the PlayStation Eye. As for The London Heist, well, you'll have to try that for yourself to see what we're raving about. But it's truly something special.

Read on for in-depth coverage on Project Morpheus, or if you're in the mood to read Cameron Faulkner's impressions, who nearly flipped his lid upon first trying it, check that out here.

Morpheus is in prototype right now. Sony told us that the final product will probably be quite different in both look and specs, but the current headset looks pretty damn slick nonetheless.

It certainly feels more "finished" than Oculus; not only does the main eyepiece look like a polished product, there's a dynamic plastic headstrap to boot. Getting it to fit wasn't too difficult and the headset felt secure enough for the purposes of the demo.

However it does feel like the weight balance needs addressing, and Sony will want to relocate some of those wires that I kept almost chewing on.There's also the tiniest of space near the bridge of your nose. It's not too distracting from the overall experience and, during the more intense sensations, served as an easy reminder that my feet are still planted safely in reality.

Morpheus hits the ground running with a 1080p display - some of you will never know the nausea that an SD screen with lag can induce. We asked Sony if its God of Dreams might end up in 4K however it didn't sound promising. As it is, Morpheus is satisfyingly crisp, but I did notice the occasional jaggedly-rendered object and felt the odd frame rate stutter. It's the same stuff we've seen with Oculus.

Morepheus's 90-degree field of vision does lose out to Oculus's 110 degrees but this is hardly noticeable - and likely to change come the final product.

Lost in space

The first game I tried was space simulator Eve: Valkyrie. Already a fan of Strike Suit Zero on the Oculus Rift, I was reasonably prepared for what was about to come.

Hurtling through space, admiring the view of giant ships as you pass under them, dodging your way through asteroid fields - this is exactly the kind of stuff we all dreamed about when we were younger.

And even though I'd experienced space in VR before, there were a couple of barrel rolls that sent my stomach spinning.

It's clear that some people are more prone to feeling physically affected by VR than others, but the clarity and low latency of Morpheus in its current state mean the risks of nausea are low. I felt ok during my 10 minutes with Eve, but like I said, there were a couple of hairy moments.

Beyond the sea

But as great as space was, it was exploring the ocean depths that really set the pulse racing. The Deep, Sony's second demo, was a perfect tease at what's possible when you wed VR and horror.

The game begins with you in a diving cage, floating near the surface of the ocean. What was different about this experience was that I was standing up so the game needed to account for this. Sure enough, when I squatted down I noticed my virtual legs bent at the same time, a feat made possible by the motion tracking.

It's these little touches that help make the experience that bit more immersive. As I sunk further down to the ocean depths, it became clear that I'd made an enemy among the aquatic wildlife as a shark began circling my cage.

The Deep wasn't a very interactive experience. I could look around me was holding a flare fun that would move with my real hands thanks to the motion-enabled Dualshock 4, however there were a couple of moments where I "broke" the connection between my real hands and my virtual ones.

As it turned out, the flare gun was about as effective as a bacon sandwich when the shark started ripping into the cage. But it was fantastic way to experience VR, especially with the lack of any form of HUD.

It was just me, under water, face to face with Jaws. And for a couple of brief moments it was absolutely terrifying.

Street Luge

Where The Deep represented pure fantasy as only a faux-holodeck experience could provide, the Street Luge stood out for its ability to make me cringe, wince, yelp and ultimately feel like I was on a roller coaster without the intense wind and bodily sensations.

It started slow, allowing me to get used to the controls - lean left to drift left, lean right to go right. Then came my first car. I dodged left and, in doing so, earned a small speed boost. There was a timer ticking in the corner of my screen that I hadn't noticed before; this was one of virtual reality's first time trials.

More cars came and went as I slowly became comfortable balancing the hardware that was secured around my head and the bodily sensations I was starting to feel. I could look straight up at the clouds and left and right over the mountainside. If I hadn't been sharing the road with sedans and semi-trucks this would've been a relatively zen-like experience. Alas.

The crowning moment came when, unable to dodge left or right, I slid unscathed between an truck's wheels and looked up into its undercarriage. When I did eventually crash, however, the screen briefly flashed red before I slowed down some - there were no gruesome, Tomb-Raider-getting-impaled-on-a-tree-branch moments here.

I crossed the finish line with two minutes and thirty two seconds on the clock. Not bad for my first downhill run.

Morpheus Castle

The final demo was called Morpheus Castle, a smack-'em-up that served to demonstrate how Move can be used so brilliantly with Morpheus. You may have forgotten about Sony's Wiimote rival, but these glowy sticks may be about to have a serious comeback.

By pressing the back triggers you'll curl your fingers into a fist. Extend them rapidly and you'll throw a punch. Because the PS Camera can track your position in a room, you'll be able to walk a few feet forwards and backwards - but not very far left or right.

You're asked to punch a hanging dummy. Complete the task and you're rewarded with your first weapon, a sword. I held the trigger on the back of the Move and I was able to cast the sword in huge arches, eventually lopped off the poor dummy's arms, legs and head.

This was a smooth, seamless experience and gave me hope that the Star Wars game we've always dreamed of - the one where lightsaber duels are not only plausible, but an enjoyable part of the game - are within arm's reach. (See what I did there?)

Next I grabbed a mace that, when extended, felt the force of gravity and hung low on its chain. I swing it a few times to get some momentum going and before long was using it to dismember a newly furnished foe.

After which was a crossbow demo, the least exciting part of my experience. I didn't need to hold down a button in the back this time and was only required to press the trigger when I had lined up a shot. The arrow tended to curve down and, while realistic, it felt a little unfulfilling in a so-far, so-good demo.

But as with the flare gun in The Deep, there was occasionally a disconnect between my virtual and real hands. There are clearly some technical boundaries when it comes to body motion with VR, and making them harder to break will be key to immersion.

Early verdict

The most frustrating thing about VR right now is trying to convey it with words. You really do have to see Project Morpheus (and, indeed, Oculus Rift) to believe it.

There's still work to be done - edges were rough and objects seemed a little less than their HD display - but Sony is clearly determined to iron these out before it comes to market.

When that might be is hard to say. But take Morpheus for a spin and I guarantee you'll be as excited as I am for what virtual reality will offer. This is the missing piece of the PS4 puzzle, and it's a big one.

E3 2015 hands on

Oculus revealed a consumer release date for Q1 in 2016 but kept its lips zipped on specs and official pricing for the Rift during its big pre-E3 event.

The company still doesn't seem ready to release the info just yet but it was sure ready to show off the headset.

After using Oculus Rift Crescent Bay, I made a series of mental notes to check off when I tried the consumer Rift: Will it actually be lighter? Will my glasses fit comfortably? Will the latency improve? After using the new HMD at E3 2015, I can enthusiastically say yes to all of it, and more.

Light as a feather

As the demo-giver handed me the Rift, I could barely contain my excitement because it was so incredibly light. Crescent Bay was far too heavy and wouldn't be comfortable wearing it for hours while turning your head around to look at stuff.

With weight seemingly fixed - I say seemingly because I still have yet to use the new headset for an extended amount of time - I moved on to the facial plate.

Previously, it would always be a struggle to fit the Rift on my face because of my glasses. The latest Rift was much less of a struggle and was very easily adjusted to accommodate the large frames.

The demo-giver fine-tuned the velcro straps for me on the sides though doing it on my own would have been a fairly simple process. The material wrapped around the Oculus Rift was also soft and sleek looking, which is a far cry from the chunky plastic. The head straps on the back look slightly different as well, and fit snugly.

As previously seen on Crescent Bay, the new headset has a pair of headphones attached to the sides that slip over your ears. However, Oculus says they'll be removable so you have the option to use your own headphones.

As with the Oculus Rift's previous iterations, a constellation tracking system will determine your position in space while you're wearing the headset.

There's also a new sensor for desktops that users can simply plug into the back of their computers. This sensor should start working in tandem with the constellation tracking right from the get go.

The sensor will be able to recognize the head motions of users whether they're in a either a seated and standing experiences as well.

Starter pack of games

There were so many more VR games to choose from at this E3 compared to previous years but I was only allowed to pick two.

Football, baseball, basketball and hockey simulator are the options you get from VR Sports Challenge but the demo on hand was hockey. I was immediately thrown into the game as a goalie after a quick screen showing button commands on the Xbox One controller.

A grizzled hockey player gave me a pep talk and was far more detailed looking than I expected. As he skated away, there was no lag at all. The amazing lack of lag applied to the rest of the hockey team quickly gliding around the rink.

The gameplay consisted of turning my head to keep track of the hockey puck. The latency remained stellar as I swiveled around to make sure the opposing team wouldn't score.

The game required a press of the left or right bumper on the controller, timed to block the shot. Once your team gets closer to the other side of the rink, you take control of the player with the puck automatically. The game slows down to let you turn your head to find an open spot to score a point.

VR Sports was a simple game with mechanics that were easy to grasp, though at times it felt like I was just hanging out in the crease watching the action happen.

However it still felt like an immersive virtual reality especially when the puck came straight at my face. I had the urge to move back and protect my face while yelling - until I remembered it was fake. Because of these intense moments, I'd say Sanzaru Games did a great job and I'm excited to see what the other sports games are like.

I also decided to try out EVE: Valkyrie even though I've played it before. It was never a good experience because the Oculus was heavy and pressed so close to eyeballs, that I always developed a headache afterwards.

It was a bit different with the new Oculus Rift strapped on. This time, I was actually able to see everything clearly and it felt like I was in space shooting fools down while spinning and zooming around.

I still felt woozy afterwards, but it wasn't that bad because my glasses didn't fog up randomly and the lenses were at a comfortable distance from my face.

The magic touch

Oculus Touch is delightful. From my earlier experiences with Rift, to Crescent Bay, I had always wanted Project Morpheus-level interaction and now, finally, Oculus Touch has fulfilled the final requirement for total immersion.

Now, that doesn't mean Touch is perfect, but it's far more impressive than I expected. During the pre-E3 conference, Oculus VP Nate Mitchell told me it won't be ready to ship with the headset in Q1 but it should be out soon after - and I believe it.

I honestly thought the peripheral demo would only show me I could move things around or swat at blocks - rudimentary hand tracking at best. I was completely wrong.

Apparently, the Oculus team has been working hard on developing the Half-Moon prototypes to do much more. In the aptly named Toy Box demo, I was not only able to pick up objects, I could shoot guns, slingshots, punch objects, pull heads off robots, and light sparklers on fire with a lighter.

It doesn't sound like much but the Touch controllers barely lost tracking and consistently obeyed each grabby command. I did freeze and lose tracking three times, but it quickly corrected itself and resumed being a weird disembodied hand. The physics were also wonky at times. I placed a ping pong paddle down and it ended up pushing everything else off the table once. However, using one finger in the zero gravity mode to push a block in space made it gently float away. Again, these are all things that are fixable and should change exponentially by next year.

Each controller was lightweight and required a wrist lanyard similar to a Wiimote. It was a little confusing at first acclimating to the different buttons and triggers but after a few minutes, it became clear where each finger needed to go to pick something up. Essentially, if you're a good multitasker, it shouldn't be a problem to figure out. Gamers are probably used to this anyway.

The Touch controllers are cable-free and contain natural-feeling haptic feedback. An analog stick, two buttons and an analog trigger - which is capacitative to touch - round out the two controllers.

Each time I wanted to grab an object, the haptics would kick in to let me know it was OK to press the trigger to pick up the object. The quick vibration wasn't always necessary but was a nice indication that the controller "made contact" with something.

VR isn't as solitary as you think

The person leading me through the demo was in another room while a disembodied head a set of disembodied hands were in the VR world with me. Every time he talked, the mouth area of the head would glow, and I'm assuming that's what I looked like too. This probably won't be the final look of the avatars, but I was still impressed by the quality and capabilities.

For most of my experience, the demo-giver was virtually in front of me passing me items or instructing me on what to pick up. One portion however, moved him "next" to me - the avatar visually shifted to my right while with the 360 degree audio emitted primarily from my right side, giving the sense that he was literally standing next to me at a shooting gallery.

It was completely surreal and threw me off because I wasn't expected that level of immersion and interaction with another person in a VR world.

Early verdict

The consumer Oculus Rift is in short, well worth the wait. I don't think the masses will take to it right away considering it's going to be expensive all around and many people don't have PC rigs set up. Then there's the waves of people who will likely face waves of nausea despite the near perfect latency. This is the most obvious problem but seems like a hurdle the team is getting closer to fixing.

Games are also increasingly being developed directly for VR meaning there will be plenty of content trickling out. Whether they'll be any good is another area that will continually be improved through trial and error.

The Oculus Touch controllers are the icing on the VR cake. I've used various peripherals before, but the software and hardware always felt a bit off, or simply weren't ready. The Touch is something I can see truly immersing you in the VR world, and it's only a prototype. I'm genuinely excited to see how much better the next iteration will be.

The company has come a long, long way from the days of the barf-inducing DK1 so it has a lot to be proud of with the impending release of the consumer Rift build. But as creator Palmer Luckey stated during the Oculus conference, "this is only the beginning" and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Hands on at CES 2015 and GDC 2015

Update May 2015: We have a consumer Rift release date! Sort of.

Oculus revealed it plans to start shipping the Rift to the general public in early 2016. It also teased what Rift will look like when it starts arriving for customers. Pre-orders open up later this year, though we still don't have a price for the VR viewer yet.

Even more details are due in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to this space for more on Oculus Rift.

Hands on review continued below ...

Oculus didn't announce a new SDK or final build of the Rift during GDC 2015, but there was a new demo on the show floor that we tried out.

Still focusing on immersive experiences, the Rift took us into a scene from The Hobbit where Bilbo meets the fearsome Smaug for the first time. Except you're Bilbo.

With the dragon still hidden underneath the piles of gold, you can take the opportunity to get closer to the shiny trinkets all around you, like a conveniently placed helmet on a treasure chest nearby. Of course prodding it means you're just crazily poking the air in real life.

Then all of sudden, Smaug starts shifting causing rivulets of gold to fall towards you. At this point, not only are the VR visuals stunning making you want to greedily pocket the goods, but the sound of the clinking coins coming at you with 360 degree audio is starting to make you think twice about sneaking into a dragon's chamber - especially when Benedict Cumberbatch/Smaug starts telling you he can smell you.

The quick demo ends with you getting fried in a fiery inferno of dragon breath. The flames burst up from all directions making you really feel the heat and then the scene goes black. Morbid. But so deliciously fun.

It's not the awesome shoot out we experienced with Move controllers and Sony's Project Morpheus but if watching movies on the Oculus will be anything like this in the future, count us in.

Update CES 2015: We went hands on with the Oculus Rift Crescent Bay prototype during CES 2015, however the demo was the same one revealed during Oculus Connect. The company has also continued to remain mum on the spec details of the latest audio equipped HMD.

Though the audio itself has a few new things under the hood. Specifically, a new Oculus Audio SDK will be part of the CV1 package. This means devs will be able to incorporate 3D positional audio for an even deeper immersive experience. The same SDK will be available for the Samsung Gear VR, another virtual reality venture Oculus is part of.

We've included a few photos of the CES experience and an interview with Oculus's Head of Mobile, Max Cohen where he explains the significance of adding sound to VR.

YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvDb0C5pGYI#t=30

Update November 12 2014: There has been a recent 0.4.3 release of the Oculus PC SDK, which features Linux support, a number of performance and stability improvements and support for developing Rift content with Unity Free. Another PC update will be released this month, perhaps to coincide with the impending release date of the head mounted display.

Hands on Oculus Connect 2014

Oculus held its first ever Oculus Connect virtual reality conference in Hollywood on September 20, and the growing company used the opportunity to show off its newest Oculus Rift prototype: Crescent Bay. The lighter, more comfortable Crescent Bay Rift prototype has beefed-up specs and, for the first time, integrated headphones designed by the engineers at Oculus VR.

But unlike with past prototypes like DK2 or "Crystal Cove," Oculus is being less than upfront about Crescent Bay's specifications. They bumped the last headset up to 1080p, and Crescent Bay certainly appears to have an even higher resolution, but the company won't confirm as much.

That's because they want to focus on the Oculus Rift as a full package rather than as a simple amalgamation of its various components, all of which will no doubt change by the time the consumer version Rift - CV1, as the company refers to it - is finally ready.

"It's the combination of the resolution with the optics, with the mechanical engineering and industrial design of this thing, that allow for it to look like it's a higher resolution, even though it may or may not be," Oculus Vice President of Product Nate Mitchell told TechRadar. "The synergy of all the components together is what takes it up a notch."

What Oculus instead focused on with the Crescent Bay demos it showed off at Oculus Connect was the level of "presence" the Rift can make users feel under optimal conditions and with content designed specifically to be as immersive as possible.

Down with the Bay

Whereas every past official Oculus Rift demo took place with users seated, this time the company had journalists and other Oculus Connect attendees standing up and walking around with the headset strapped to their faces.

In interviews afterward, Mitchell and Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey emphasized that the stand-up Rift experience is not the experience that they're stressing for consumers, but was simply meant in this case to crank up the immersion as high as possible. Mitchell called this demo "conceptual," and Luckey said "the Oculus Rift is a seated experience. It's very dangerous to stand up."

As true as that may be - you probably shouldn't try walking blindly around your home while the Oculus Rift is tricking your brain into thinking you're on a different planet or in a submarine - the stand-up experience demonstrated with Crescent Bay at Oculus Connect was undoubtedly the most immersive and impressive virtual reality demo ever.

The experience consisted of about a dozen demos developed by Oculus's new internal content team. Luckey said these demos are the cream of the crop as far as what Oculus has developed, and many more experiences were scrapped or sidelined. Over several minutes they showed off a variety of potential Rift applications, eliciting a number of very different responses.

The demos

The Crescent Bay demos took place in a highly controlled environment: a small, empty room with four plain, grey walls. A camera - larger than the one used with Crystal Cove - was mounted on the wall, tracking users' positions as they walked around a small, black mat on the ground.

By tracking the Crescent Bay prototype's white-studded surface (these nubs are now located all around the headset, including on the back of the strap) this camera can accurately understand your position in the room, allowing you to walk around freely in virtual space. Not to get too dramatic, but it really is a mind-blowing experience.

The demos themselves consisted of several non-interactive environments, from a creaking submarine chamber to a sunny museum in which a life-sized (looked that way at least) T-Rex sniffs around and ultimately steps directly over you.

These short experiences lasted less than a minute each. One highlight took place at the top of a skyscraper in a steampunk, BioShock-inspired city. Standing up in that grey room, you could walk to the edge of the virtual roof and look down hundreds of feet to the traffic below. And as with the T-Rex's roar, the Crescent Bay Rift's attached headphones - technically stereo, but with simulated surround sound - made the experience seem all the more real with traffic noises, hissing wind and more.

That demo called to mind the Game of Thrones "Ascend the Wall" Oculus Rift experience designed by visual effects firm Framestore. Used by HBO at promotional events like the premiere of Game of Thrones' fourth season, Ascend the Wall put users inside an actual metal cage - replicating the elevator from the series - that rumbled and blew cold air at them as they virtually ascended to the top of the show's fictional 800-foot-high Wall.

The more points of feedback these demos are able to simulate, the more "presence" users feel, Oculus contends. These feedback points range from that feeling of cold air being blown in your face - which is not very practical - to ambient sound, which is practical - to something as simple as standing up, which is not ideal for every situation but nevertheless ramps things up considerably.

All of these demos showed off the ways that standing up can enhance virtual reality. For example, within environments that appear small, like a tiny cartoon city or a sci-fi terrain map that could be used for a strategy game, walking around makes you feel like you're playing an Ender's Game-like simulation.

But one of the most fun demos involved simply standing and facing a curious alien on a distant planet. As the user bends down and moves around to better examine the alien, it does the same to the user, clucking in a strange tongue. You actually get the sense that it's talking to you, and it's easy to see how this type of interaction could be used to make video games better.

Yet another demo had you staring into a mirror, with your head represented by a floating mask. No matter how hard I tried or how fast I moved, I couldn't detect a shred of latency as the mask in the mirror reflected my every movement. Again, the grey room in which this took place was a more controlled environment than most people's homes, but it was nevertheless impressive.

Early verdict

The final experience - and the most game-like - showed off exactly how cool an Unreal Engine 4 Oculus Rift game might be. Futuristic soldiers shot at a hulking robot as it fired right back, explosions sending cars flying in slow motion as the point of view crept slowly down the street toward the machine. It felt natural to physically dance around, dodging incoming bullets and ducking under flipping vehicles, no matter how ridiculous I might have looked to onlookers who couldn't see what I was seeing.

This could legitimately be the future of gaming - if Oculus can figure out the input problem. Although many Oculus Rift demos have used an Xbox 360 controller, there's still no standard input device for Rift games. Like Crescent Bay's integrated audio, though, this is a problem Oculus is actively working on.

"There's a very real possibility that we would have come to the conclusion that audio is something we were going to leave to third parties," Luckey told us at the conference. "We came to the conclusion that we had to do it ourselves, and we had to do a good job, because it was so important to get right. I think input is in that camp."

That's just one of the problems Oculus needs to solve before the Rift is ready for consumers, and given that Crescent Bay is just the latest of many prototypes it's unclear when it will be. But when Oculus Rift CV1 is ready, it has the potential to change entertainment forever.

Reporting by Michael Rougeau

Hands on at Comic-Con and GDC 2014

Update: Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 is on its way to game makers and it's being used for by movie studios. We revised our hands-on review and added facts about its Galaxy Note 3 screen and Mac support.

Hands on impressions by Matt Swider and Alex Roth

As Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 starts shipping to pre-order customers, we got more face time with the virtual reality headset at PAX Prime and Comic-Con.

This makes sense. Oculus was rumored to be working with Samsung on the South Korean electronics giant's own virtual reality headset. Whether or not that pans out remains to be seen.

Despite both the physical and theorized Samsung ties, Mac compatibility has been added to the Oculus Rift DK2, making good on the start-up company's promise to support Apple machines. All five OS X game developers are rejoicing right now.

Oculus Rift DK2 drops the first interation's control box in favor of integrating the guts into the headset itself. Only a single cable - HDMI and USB woven together - dangls from your face.

The new kit also comes with a motion-tracking camera, which allows for greater movement within the world of the Rift. It looks a bit like a webcam, and a lot like a PlayStation Eye camera from the PS3 days.

It features a blue "on" light and an Oculus logo, but its true power isn't visible to the naked eye. It uses forty infrared LEDs on the headset to track your head movements and integrate them into the game. These LEDs were visible on the version we tried at CES 2014, but not anymore.

In the demos we saw at GDC 2014, this meant players could lean in for a closer look at in-game objects and characters. These were the same demos we saw at CES, with the exception of a new one by Epic Games, which integrated the player into the game a unique way.

The game was a one on one battle between two sword and shield wielding avatars. It takes place in a living room, where players can see representations of themselves seated in the room, controller in hand. To keep an eye on the fight we had to swivel our head and crane our neck.

The Rift was a surreal experience as always; when our opponent turned his head or leaned forward it gave his neck a stretched, snake-like appearance. And when one of the battling avatars leapt up onto your lap, you half expect to feel his little feet on your legs.

If you've used the previous Rift, know that Crystal Cove is a night and day difference. The higher resolution makes all the difference in the world; it's like going from Skyrim on a four-year-old PC to one from last year.

Note that we say last year; the Oculus Rift still isn't sporting visuals that you could call next gen. There are still jaggedly rendered objects, but the immersive nature of the experience trumps graphics any day, and is one you need to see to believe.

Movies come to Oculus Rift at Comic-Con

Comic-Con 2014 provided a different sort of experience - with entertainment at the forefront - and maybe one we can expect more of now that Facebook owns Oculus VR.

Both Twenty Century Fox and Warner Bros. were backing new Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 units at the cosplay-filled San Diego convention with demos for their X-Men and Into the Storm films.

The X-Men Cerebro Experience provided the more surreal experience as attendees slipped into the wheelchair and saw through the eyes of mutant leader Professor Charles Xavier. He, fittingly, donned the just-as-snug brain amplifying mutant detector Cerebro on his own head.

The concept involved seeking the shapeshifting mutant Mystique by looking 360 degrees in any direction. She was hiding in a Comic-Con crowd that was fictitious and barren - it would have been cooler if it used augmented reality here.

The actual hunt was automated and fairly boring, but Professor X's replica wheelchair at the Fox booth provided developers with the opportunity to predict the location of our limbs and torso. It accurately overlayed his body onto our own.

Obviously, this demo didn't call for much movement and that worked to the movie studio's advantage. It could easily trick your mind into thinking that the Professor's subtle finger tap on the armrest was your own with a "Wait, I didn't just do that!"

Into the Storm upped the energy level with simulated tornado winds inside a small glass both built by Warner Bros. Through the first-person perspective, we saw three characters hunker down behind a gated sewer entrance, truck-sized debris smash against its ironclad bars and pipes burst with gushing water.

It didn't have the advantage of a stationary wheelchair-bound character to map our bodies and there was no interaction whatsoever, but Warner Bros did aptly demo its new disaster movie with this terrifying scene recreation. It also messed up our hair.

Both X-Men Cerebro Experience and Into the Storm also gave us insight into how big-name movie studios intend to use Oculus Rift to invent new ways of enjoying theatrical experiences. Video games were just the beginning.

Hands on CES 2014

Oculus Rift gets more impressive every time we see it, and the futuristic virtual reality headset's appearance at CES 2014 was definitely no exception.

Since E3 2013 Oculus VR has gained impressive talent and raised an extra $75 million in funding, and the result is the Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype (named for a state park in southern California). It's significantly easier on the eyes than older versions of the headset and, by extension, closer than ever to the Rift's final, fully functional, consumer-facing form.

The two game demos Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell showed us in a private meeting room at CES were designed to showcase two new features: positional head-tracking and low persistence, both of which help make the virtual reality experience more immersive and address some users' complaints with the headset, including motion blur-induced nausea.

The head-tracking is the most obvious improvement. The new white studs on the Oculus Crystal Cove prototype's face are indicators that communicate your head's position to a new external camera, mounted near your monitor. As a result the full movements of your upper body, not just the sideways and up/down movements of your head, are detected and translated to the game world.

That means you can lean forward while playing CCP Games' extremely impressive 3D space-shooting game EVE: Valkyrie, bringing your in-game face closer to your space ship's various monitors and switches so you can better read their warnings and instructions. Since the very first demo Oculus Rift has inserted players into virtual worlds, and with this addition it's a more immersive experience than ever.

Get low, low, low, low

Second and more subtle is the low persistence, which makes the Oculus Rift's somewhat notorious motion blur a thing of the past. Now the graphics remain more clear and sharp even when you move your head around rapidly. There's still a tiny amount of blurring, but it's a massive improvement over the previous version of Oculus Rift.

To prove it Mitchell turned low persistence off and then on as we moved around, and although the image became darker with it on, it almost totally alleviated what was previously one of the Rift's biggest issues.

The tech behind the low persistence is somewhat complex, but Mitchell explained the gist of it. Essentially the new "Crystal Cove" Oculus Rift's OLED display has zero latency, so it takes the pixels no time at all to change color.

Even then, Mitchell said, there was some blurring, but Oculus alleviated it even further by programming the pixels to consistently but imperceptibly flicker on and off, only turning on when they have "good" data to display.

That new OLED display is also full HD 1080p, just like the prototype Oculus showed off behind closed doors at E3 2013. That of course helps as well.

Wizard Chess

We played EVE: Valkyrie at E3 2013 as well, though on the older, lower-resolution Oculus Rift. In 1080p, and with minimal motion blur and the new positional head-tracking, it was even more immersive now than it was back then - and that's saying something, because even that first time it was totally mind-blowing.

Piloting a space ship with an Xbox 360 controller while you look around the cockpit and target enemies with the motions of your head is one of the most impressive gaming experiences ever created. It feels like the first time you played Super Mario 64, or Halo, or Wolfenstein - completely fresh and like it has the potential to change the world of gaming. And right now it's only a demo.

The other software Oculus had at CES was a very basic defense game built by Epic Games in Unreal Engine 4. It's an evolution of one of the original Oculus Rift demos Oculus showed around - the one where users simply walked or floated around several beautiful but interaction-light Unreal Engine 4 environments, including a snowy mountain and the lava-filled lair of a scary-looking demon lord.

Now, that demon sits on his throne across from you, the player, he being your apparent opponent. Around you is his cavernous, fiery lair, and before you is something like a 3D board game with moving pieces. He sends tiny dwarves marching inexorably toward your goal, and you press buttons on the Xbox 360 controller to fire arrows, cannonballs and flamethrowers at them.

There are two views: one overhead and one from closer to the game's level, almost like you're leaning down toward it to put on your thinking cap. And thanks to that positional head-tracking you can actually lean forward to peer into the game and examine the little dwarves up close. You can look into their faces as they're pinned with arrows and crisped with fire.

The experience of playing a game inside a game world is not unique to Oculus Rift. This little game, though still very basic, could conceivably be a mini-game within some epic, sprawling RPG. But like with everything else, playing it on Oculus Rift makes you feel like you're really there.

Early Verdict

Mitchell said the camera that enables the positional tracking may be only a temporary solution. But whatever Oculus settles on to make sure the final version of Oculus Rift features full six-point head-tracking will be included with the unit, whether that means bundling a camera in or something else.

There's still no projected release date or final pricing for the consumer product that the Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype will eventually become, despite rumors of a Christmas 2014 goal that Mitchell would neither confirm nor deny. And the conspicuous indicator lights on the Crystal Cove's front aren't final either, Mitchell revealed, even if they do look kind of cool.

Mitchell and his colleagues at Oculus VR seem to think the Rift still has a long way to go. That may very well be true, but the fact is the Oculus Rift is the coolest product in the world right now, and it gets better every time we see it.

Alex Roth and Matt Swider also contributed to these hands-on previews

Earlier previews

Update: It's E3 2013, and it's been several months since TechRadar last saw Oculus Rift. The virtual reality headset has undergone two major changes since January: a new prototype now comes with full HD 1080p visuals, and it's now got something resembling an actual video game.

Hands on impressions by Matt Swider and Alex Roth

We went hands on at the show to check out what's new with Oculus Rift, and we came away extremely impressed.

Catching snowflakes

Oculus VR is now using Epic's Unreal Engine 4 to demo its Rift headset. Specifically, the company is showing players the lava and snow demo that debuted in videos in late March. Wearing the standard-definition headset (similar to the one we saw at CES, but with an extra top strap for added comfort), we felt like we should be able to catch a snowflake with an open mouth when we looked up at the virtual sky.

It's that real-looking, and when we put on the brand new prototype HD Oculus Rift that sensation was only heightened.

Oculus Rift is incredibly immersive, and part of that is thanks to its true stereoscopic 3D. The two screens inside the goggles become extensions of your own eyeballs, and your brain quickly adapts to the point that you'll raise your arm and expect to see them in the game world. You can truly sense the world's depth, and despite knowing it's an illusion it feels very real.

We didn't experience any nausea, but we only used it for a few minutes. We did get a touch of vertigo as we looked down from the top of a virtual mountain, though.

The consumer version of Oculus Rift, which Oculus VR Vice President of Product Nate Mitchell said is coming in "months and not years," will likely come in HD like the prototype we saw at E3. As you can imagine it's absolutely a superior experience.

Mitchell was hesitant to divulge too many specifics, though, mostly because they're always subject to change. "We want to continue to improve the hardware," he said. "Display technology keeps getting better. Sensor technology keeps getting better. We're adding new features and things like that, a lot of which we haven't announced."

He said they want to keep the price point around $300 (about UK£191, AU$312), though.

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To infinity (and beyond)

The other big development in the world of Oculus Rift came not from Oculus VR itself, but from EVE Online developers CCP Games. The first development kits for the headset went out a few months ago, and in that time CCP built an impressive demo that they showed off at E3 this week.

In it players fly a spaceship using an Xbox 360 controller while the Oculus Rift tracks their head movements. This works incredibly well because just like when you're controlling a vehicle in real life, you can look around and move independently.

The multiplayer demo - which unfortunately is just that, a tech demo - allowed multiple players to fly around in a large outer space environment while shooting lasers and missiles at one another. We could shoot lasers straight forward while targeting other players above and to the sides of our ship by simply moving our head and visually targeting them.

The sense of space in this demo (no pun intended) was simply astounding. Tilting our head down, we could see our knees in the game; we found ourselves moving our arms and expecting our in-game avatar's arms to move as well.

That sensation caused some dissonance as our brain tried to differentiate the virtual body it was seeing from the body it's attached to. That could be solved with a Kinect-style sensor that tracked your arm movements used in tandem with Oculus Rift, though Mitchell said they don't have plans for anything like that.

The dev kits are out there, though, and it's not impossible. In fact, it seems we're just beginning to explore the possibilities of Oculus Rift, and if what we've seen so far is any indication then it's time to get very, very excited for what's in store.

Original article: Oculus Rift made headlines last year for its wildly successful Kickstarter project. The enterprise to create a commercially viable virtual reality headset raised $2,437,429, and at the pre-CES 2013 Digital Experience event, TechRadar got to experience Oculus Rift eyeball-to-eyeball.

The VR headset has been through several iterations, but the one we saw at CES was the most refined. It isn't perfect (and as we found out, it might not ever be perfect for some players) but it's undoubtedly superior to any previous attempts at a virtual reality display.

Instead of a clunky skull-encompassing helmet, Occulus Rift is more like a set of ski goggles, with room inside for small eyeglasses if you wear them.

Inside are two lenses, which each feed a separate 640 x 800 image to your eyeballs. Combined, they form a unified 1280 x 800 image.

Motion tracking means it responds to your head movements, as though you're looking around an actual 3D environment.

Oculus VR (the company behind Rift) showed off its remarkable new kit with the Epic Citadel demo - a standard video game input (in this case, from Xbox 360) in first-person view.

This plunged us into a medieval marketplace populated by humble townsfolk and knights in armour, with snow softly settling around us.

Wear it well

The first time we moved was rather perplexing and disorienting. It's almost like walking for the very first time.

However, the visuals seem extremely fluid and natural. And in less than a minute, we felt that Oculus Rift really could be the new face of playing games.

Unfortunately, not long after that TechRadar's motion-sickness susceptible reviewer began to feel something else. He was only able to tolerate ten minutes before nausea spoiled the party.

The time it takes for sickness to kick in appears to depend on the game's frame rate, camera system and other factors that have yet to be isolated.

But surprisingly, while Oculus VR's representatives say this initial reaction is common among first-timers, they also report that most (though not all) players subsequently become accustomed to the experience.

Early verdict

There is still no target release date for the final product, let alone price. At CES, two versions were shown: the somewhat rough prototype, which is covered by black tape; and the developer kit, which looks far more polished.

But whenever it appears, Oculus Rift seems set to mark a big shift in gaming. Clearly, though, there's work to do if the headset is to fulfill its potential - we can't see it becoming truly popular if it gets a reputation for making players sick.

The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller is going to level up the skills of Xbox One and Windows 10 gamers later this year with a better feeling, more complex gamepad.

As soon as I wrapped my hands around the E3 2015 prototype, I could tell right away that was meant to be a performance-class take on Microsoft's console-bundled controller. Serious gamers need apply.

It has more trigger buttons, configurable inputs, a better grip and a heavier feel. All of this makes it fit for pro-level gamers and anyone who has money to burn on a new controller.

It's not for everyone, but the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller is worth the price if you're desperate to push more buttons and push your way up the multiplayer leaderboards.

Release date and price

There were two downsides to briefly one-upping my play style with the Xbox One Elite Wireless Controller at E3. First, it's not going to be available for another four months. My hands have to revert back to the original gamepad for now.

The official release date is sometime in October of this year. I tried to get an exact date out of Microsoft, but the reps seem undecided. All they know is that it'll be ready well in advance of the holidays.

The company is being a lot more exact on how much it'll cost. The Xbox Elite Wireless Controller price is $149 (likely £99, AU$199). That's a pretty high price to pay for the almost all-black gamepad.

Xbox One Elite Controller buttons

Fan-requested features make the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller the best gamepad you can pre-order right now, thanks to new trigger buttons and swappable parts.

There are four slots for interchangeable paddles on the back, and all four can be attached and removed without tooling. They're the Apple Watch bands of video game controllers.

Both the right and left thumb sticks can also be popped off with ease, giving your fingers the best grip, with (concave), tall (flat) and domed (convex) options. There's a little bit of magnetism holding them in place.

The all-metal D-Pad choices works much the same way, with a standard cross design and a faceted plate that fits over top of the controller.

Hair triggers tucked away on the underside of the Xbox Elite Controller are another surprise. Flipping these switches halves the press of the right and left shoulder buttons.

All of a sudden, accelerating, braking or firing weapons can be done in half of the time in games that use these analog shoulder buttons. Flipping the switch off returns them to their full range of motion.

Design and comfort

The extra triggers of the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller don't make the new controller more uncomfortable, but they did take me more than a minute to adjust to.

That's mostly because the four interchangeable paddles gave me some figurative pause. It's important to know what these new buttons do in each game and how to hold the controller without pressing them.

Of course, this is a pro-level gaming controller, so it's designed for the best players who are in need of more buttons at their literal fingertips. Therefore, the adjustment period can't be seen as a con.

There's also an Xbox One and Windows 10 app to fine tune the new controller, giving the pedals reason to exist and tweaking the analog sticks' maximum and minimum resistance. This changes the software, but not the resistance of the actual stick hardware.

What I found instantly comfortable were the new grips on the underside. The controller handles now have a rubber mold over them with a diamond pattern on back.

The top of the controller has a more normal-looking, soft touch paint with a little more grip, so it's not hard to readjust your hands. My thumbs could still easily slide across the top while playing.

The face buttons and right and left bumpers haven't changed in size, but they are now colorless. After all, true elite gamers don't need to see yellow, blue, red and green. They just see win.

Early verdict

There's a lot going on with the Xbox Elite Controller. It has four interchangeable paddles that act as extra, software-customizable triggers and a swappable D-Pad and pair of analog sticks. It's well laid out so that the extra input buttons don't feel like they clutter the look or feel.

The rubberized undercoat on the new controller handles may be my favorite feature, and while we haven't reached a point for a full Xbox Elite Wireless Controller review, I can imagine this is an ideal gamepad for sweat-filled gaming marathons. It's easier to hold, and the nearly all-black color scheme is just another way to subtly brag as a gamer.

The price is the only thing holding me back from pre-ordering this gamepad. At 150 bucks, it's almost three times the price of the normal Xbox One controller on Amazon. On top of that, for that high price, it doesn't come with the Play & Charge kit battery. Just AA batteries. Really? Microsoft says it does come with a USB cable and a carrying case, so there's that.

Xbox Elite Controller is designed for pros and, really, considering how much it costs, that's who should be first in line for the October release date.

Introduction and design

For all the stuff it does well, Nintendo doesn't do itself many favours when it comes to communication. After the messy and confused messaging of the Wii U and the perhaps even more confusing 2DS, it's now gone and named its latest 3DS the New 3DS.

And certainly by just looking at it, you wouldn't be able to tell much difference between it and its prior form. It's less of a problem for the serious gamers and Nintendo nuts, but for the parents who are out to buy their kid a birthday present… well, you can see the problem.

But the New 3DS really is new. The alterations might not immediately strike you - many are under the hood - but the handheld has undergone a number of beneficial tweaks. And as I'm about to explain, it does justify the upgrade.

What's most curious about the New 3DS, however, is that it's only launching in Europe, at a price of £150 (around US$240, AU$300). The US and Australia will only get the XL variant while Brits will get both. Nintendo has obviously been keeping a close eye on consumer trends and, we assume, determined that everyone else prefers to go large.

But whichever size you go for, this is the definitive 3DS - the one Nintendo should have given us back in 2011.

Design

I've never had a problem with the design of the 3DS and, clearly, neither has Nintendo. The clamshell shape is as familiar as ever, although it has been bumped up a smidge in size to accommodate a slightly larger display.

As an added bonus, Nintendo has granted the power of interchangeable faceplates to this smaller model. Nintendo sent me a rather eye-catching Luigi one to try but you'll have a vast range to choose from (Japan already has 40) if you fancy some added customisation. Why this is absent on the XL is a bit of a mystery to me - again, I imagine it comes down to market research.

Open it up and, again, it's a familiar site. As a nice little touch, the face buttons now replicate the colours of those on the SNES controller. But the biggy is the one we've been waiting on for far too long - a second analogue stick.

Don't be fooled by that puny-looking grey nib that's sprouted on the right hand side - it's a fully-fledged C-stick capable of 360 degree movement. It feels stiff but it's surprisingly sensitive. During my time playing Majora's Mask it worked wonderfully for controlling the in-game camera. Much of that is down to the placement that makes thumb-jumping between face buttons and analogue stick super easy.

To go with your new analogue stick is a pair of added shoulder buttons, putting the much-berated Circle Pad Pro accessory out of a job. Thank goodness, it was ugly as sin. Meanwhile, the new ZL and ZR buttons sit side by side with the old shoulder pressers, making Nintendo's handheld finally feel complete.

But there's more; the wireless button is now gone, the start and select buttons both rest below the fact buttons, the volume slider sits on the left-hand side of the top screen, and the power button has shifted to the bottom right of the device. That last one is perhaps my only niggle with the new aesthetic as it makes turning the console on and off a tad more awkward than it should be.

Switching up the design isn't the only reason for changing the faceplates on the New 3DS - both the battery and MicroSD card lie beneath. The fact you need a screwdriver to change an SD card in 2015 is, in my eyes, a design flaw - especially when you consider how quickly those cards fill up.

But that's not the strangest decision Nintendo has made on the New 3DS. No, the strangest decision was to not include a charger with the console. I guess the assumption is that most buyers will be upgraders from an older 3DS, but what about everyone else?

These days it's assumed that any gadget not running on AA batteries is going to come with some sort of charger in the box, and I think there are going to be a lot more disappointed people than Nintendo anticipates.

Features and games

If I'm ordering the new features in terms of importance, the next on the list is the tremendously better 3D effect. The 3DS of yesterday demanded you kept your head in a 'sweet spot' to get the benefit of an extra dimension - now the 3D follows you around.

Thanks to the console's new front-facing camera, the 3DS will follow your head and adjust the parallax to meet the angle of your focus. Much like when the 3DS and its stereoscopic function showed up in 2011, this new 3D feature is something you really have to see to understand. But I can tell you now, it makes a phenomenal difference; finally, I have a reason to push that 3D slider back up again.

That said, there's still much debate over whether the 3D effect of Nintendo's handheld is more than a gimmick, and Nintendo hasn't done much of late to prove otherwise. Pokemon X and Y, two of the biggest games to hit the 3DS, ignored the feature for the most part. The 2DS speaks for itself.

Nintendo's new head-tracking 3D doesn't make it better in clarity and pop, but it does make it more consistent and comfortable to use, which is still a big improvement in my eyes.

What might be less noticeable when you pick up the 3DS is the added speed. Nintendo has swapped out the CPU for a faster model. Apps now open and close with added brevity, and a number of upcoming games will only be compatible with this newer model.

Here's the rub of the New Nintendo 3DS. The Circle Pad Pro provides a (rather cumbersome) fix to anyone who wants to stick to their current model, but when it comes to new games that are New 3DS-compatible only, there's only one solution for those who don't upgrade: suck it up.

That's going to cause fragmentation, but obsolescence is the very driver of technology so it's difficult to criticise Nintendo's decision to up the processor on a device that's nearly four years old.

Just how much grunt the new processor will lend the 3DS remains to be seen, but with the additional controls now part of the parcel it may be the only thing standing between the 3DS and a bunch of lovely Gamecube ports. The prospect of one day playing Mario Sunshine on my 3DS is pant-wettingly exciting.

What's not been boosted significantly on the new model, however, is the New 3DS's camera. There's been a slight improvement for capturing pictures in low-light conditions, but overall it's a pretty weak feature that I'd say the console could do without were it not for augmented reality games like Face Raiders.

Nintendo's made one other preparation for the future, NFC, and this one is going to get a lot of use. The New 3DS comes with NFC built in, ready for Nintendo's army of Amiibo figurines. By placing an Amiibo on the bottom screen of the 3DS the two will interact, allowing you to level up your character, gain some bonus items, and more.

Nintendo's toys are selling marvellously well at the moment (really, who's surprised?) and rolling out by the truckload, so expect to see plenty more characters - and much more interaction with the 3DS - in the near future.

As for the games, I shouldn't need to tell you that they're in abundance. Good games too, which is where the technically superior PS Vita falls down.

The library of games available to 3DS owners is already vast and varied but it's no coincidence that Nintendo is launching its new handhelds on the same day as Majora's Mask 3D, the handheld port of its classic N64 Zelda adventure.

That library will grow stronger with more powerful games, thanks to the new CPU, and I can't wait to see how far developers can push the handheld. It was recently announced that the multiplatform Unity engine is coming to the 3DS, with more than 50 Wii U games using it already.

Unity powers most of the big Android and iOS games right now, and the result of this should be better quality games for the 3DS. It might also tie into Nintendo's foray into mobile gaming.

But right now, this feels like it could well be the last episode in the 3DS saga. So, Nintendo, what comes next?

Verdict

Nintendo has long been boss of the handheld market, but the fact it continues to be so successful in a market now dominated by smartphones is, quite frankly, damn impressive.

The New 3DS means Nintendo should continue to hold its own for a while longer. With more power, extra controls and a reason to turn that 3D slider back up again, Nintendo's latest handheld is a welcome refresh that - despite some minor niggles - is definitely worth the upgrade.

We liked

Almost every change Nintendo has made here is welcome, and the result is a handheld that finally feels complete. The 3D is now much more consistent, meaning less headaches and a more enjoyable experience, while the C-stick gives us what we've been asking for since 2011.

We disliked

There are a few niggles: having to remove the back with a screwdriver to change the microSD in 2015 seems crazy; the camera is still quite poor; and the name might cause some confusion for those less familiar with the Nintendo family.

Final verdict

The New 3DS makes a number of small improvements, but put together they make for a console that's definitely worth the upgrade, especially as a number of future games will be incompatible with the older model.

Introduction, library, pricing and stream quality

UPDATE: PlayStation Now will soon be available on PS3. Starting on May 12, PS3 owners will be able to subscribe to the service or take advantage of the 7-day free trial. The original review follows:

A lot can change in two years. Take, for example, PlayStation Now.

On July 2, 2012, Sony bought the then-barely-known cloud gaming service, GaiKai, to the tune of $380 million (£242 million). The decision was met with tepid excitement and heaps of skepticism.

The excitement made sense. Though a foreign idea at the time, game-streaming sounded like an ambitious way to replace the derelict brick and mortar rental stores. (Sorry, Blockbuster!) The skepticism, however, was also understandable.

How could the average user expect a stable, quick connection for an entire gaming session? And how could Sony price it so that both consumers and developers get a fair deal?

It's with these questions in mind that we fast-forward to July 2014, wherein the fruit of that union is finally ready for harvest. It's called PlayStation Now, and if you haven't heard of it, it's kind of a big deal.

When it started, the private beta was only open to a select few. Now, the beta's open to PS4, PS3, PlayStation Vita and PlayStation TV owners the world over, with plans to expand to both Sony and Samsung TVs in the near future.

What follows is my experience with the service and fly-by-night phenomena many didn't believe could even work two short years ago.

Great expectations

We had hoped back then, perhaps somewhat naively, that PlayStation Now would be the Netflix of video game streaming. That we could shell out a paltry $8.99 a month and access any game we choose forever - so long as we didn't let our subscription lapse.

What we got isn't the evolution of Netflix. That's not to say it's bad, mind you. It's just … different.

Update: In the time since its inception, PlayStation Now has added a subscription option. The service will cost $19.99 per month or $45 if you sign up for three months. Skeptical? Sony is offering a seven-day trial for free.

Let's start at the beginning. PlayStation Now's interface is incredibly subdued. There are only four tabs: Welcome, All Games, Connection Test, and My PS Now Games.

Exploring the Welcome tab reminds you to use a wired connection for the best results and, before you begin streaming a title, test your connection. (If you're wondering, yes you can pass the test if you're using a wireless signal. We managed to pass the test on Wi-Fi, though that may not have been an accurate assessment.)

Sony promised close to 100 titles before the beta goes live, among them first-party behemoths like The Last of Us, God of War: Ascension and Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus.

Game Library

Sony delivered. Sort of.

There are now over 100 games available to stream, everything from triple-A masterpieces like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension to smaller indie darlings. My only complaint is that games aren't added as quickly as I'd like. It'd be nice to see a new, must-play game added every week, but so far that hasn't happened. Not to say that this can't or won't change as soon as the beta switches from private to public.

But the good titles are worth the price of entry - which I'll get to soon enough, don't worry. Games like Saints Row 3, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Darksiders and Catherine are all up for grabs.

Sadly, some of the 85 games are discount bin fodder, and have been for the past few years. I don't know anyone lining up to play Heavy Fire: Shattered Spear or Jimmie Johnson's Anything with Wheels. But the variety offered here should be enough to please a diverse set of tastes.

Pricing

PlayStation Now could offer the biggest and best games from the company's 20-year foray into game consoles, but if the pricing is wrong, none of it will matter. Nailing down exactly what PlayStation Now's pricing is and how this will shake out, however, is a little tough.

From now games are divided into four rental periods (four hours, seven days, 30 days and 90 days) or all-you-can-play for $20 a month. The price between the first two rental periods typically only differs by one to two dollars, but there's a major jump in cost that happens between the 30 and 90-day levels.

However, once you purchase time with a game, you can't buy additional time. Ideally, you should be able to buy a four-hour demo for $2.99 and, once you've decided you like it, unlock 7-day access by paying the difference.

As it stands, you'll need to wait out the four hours and pay the full 7-day price. There's no way to transition from one to another without waiting out the time for which you paid.

Thankfully, the rental period begins the first time you play the game not when you purchase it. However, you must start your game within 30 days of purchasing the rental or that money is wasted.

Here's a table of three games, one early PS3 game; one PSN game; and one more recent PS3 game displaying not only the difference in price over each time period, but the difference between games altogether as well:

Taken at face value, these don't seem so bad. Reasonably, this is what brick and mortar stores used to charge for rentals, and while the upper-end seems a bit too high, it may make sense once more recent - and better - games fill out the catalog.

But dig in a bit deeper, and these logical prices stop making sense.

Take, for example, Metal Gear Solid 4: it's $7.99 to rent for seven days - not a terrible price when it's isolated without a comparison. But when this game goes for $6.99 used at GameStop, it seems a lot less sensible. Though, the point can be made that you would need an actual PS3 console to play that disc, thanks to the lack of backwards compatibility on the PS4. So, this argument can swing either way.

Where I can see PlayStation Now finding some traction is with gamers supplementing their PS4 experience with rentals - or, crazier, users giving up their physical media collection completely. This depends largely on how quickly games come to the store. But, in a perfect world in which games launch simultaneously on retail and PS Now, you could be playing the week's biggest game without leaving your couch for the pittance of $6.99.

There's a lot of potential here, but the pricing model isn't all that consumer-friendly.

Stream quality

Games take about 15 seconds to load up, and seem a hair faster than they were at CES. Single player worked seamlessly in Guacamelee!, and local multiplayer wasn't a problem either.

I also noticed that since CES, there was little to no signal degradation. Everything came through in crystal-clear HD or not at all. The only time I saw some stuttering and screen tearing was during an intense, input-heavy game, like Dead or Alive 5.

Whether PlayStation Now can support multiplayer games online, however, remains to be seen. I can only imagine that a signal being relayed from a local PlayStation 4 to a PS Now server then to the game server and back would be too slow to play online. Whether that turns out to be true, though, remains to be seen and is something that requires confirmation from Sony.

What I do know is that you really want to heed Sony's advice on an ethernet cable. A lost connection to your router will boot you from the game whether you've saved 10 seconds ago or 10 minutes ago. I got booted from games multiple times due to a bad connection. Though, this may have to do with the amount of dedicated servers for the beta, and not something indicative of the final service.

Early verdict

It's hard to judge the service on this brief, partial display. Once more server space becomes dedicated to PlayStation Now, many of these complaints may become a moot point.

We liked

As promised, Sony delivered a slew of games. Picking which one of the 80-plus games to download first is a difficult decision, and this is only the beginning. Plus, rentals don't take up any space on your hard drive, and there's zero download time - just a quick 20 second setup before you play each game.

Finally, while the service is only available now on the PlayStation 4, it will eventually span the entirety of Sony's gaming and media devices as well as possibly expanding onto smartphones.

We disliked

It would've be great to cut yourself off entirely from a console, but that doesn't seem possible with PlayStation Now in its current state. There's just not enough of a selection without getting the latest releases on there every week, and even if they were, the prices add up quickly.

Games can sometimes be more for a seven day rental than their retail price. Frankly, I wish PlayStation Now would borrow EA Access's better, consumer-friendly pricing system.

Early verdict

Sony has time to fix the problem with its PlayStation Now pricing model, lack of flexibility, and has plans to step up the amount of content available to stream. There's a lot to look forward to with the service. That is, so long as Sony can adopt a better model to attract the most gamers to the platform.

Hands on: CES 2014

Backwards compatibility may have gone the way of the dodo but now Sony has introduced a way to play its last-gen games, and you don't even need a PlayStation 3 or 4.

PlayStation Now could be the Netflix of video games. Through a subscription or a la carte rental payments players can stream PS3 games in 720p, no console required.

Solid Snake on your iPhone?

When the service launches this summer it'll be exclusive to Sony Bravia TVs, the PS4 and PS3. Sony plans to expand compatibility to the PS Vita handheld and Sony Xperia Android devices.

YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVMC6y1j2e8

PlayStation Now won't be exclusive to Sony products forever. The Japanese electronics behemoth has said its goal is to support a "broad range of Internet-connected devices." This includes non-Sony TVs and smartphones.

At Sony's mega booth at CES 2014 I spent a little hands on time crushing mythological monsters and skulking through the apocalyptic wasteland.

My demo used a Sony Bravia TV with DualShock 3 controllers connected directly to the TV. A Sony rep told me that Bluetooth is the only requirement to get controller playing with a TV. At launch, only the PS3's DualShock 3 will be supported for direct television play.

Four games were playable at the CES demo: God of War: Ascension, Puppeteer, The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls. I played the first three and was impressed with the latency of the controls, which showed zero lag.

However, the visuals were a bit of a downgrade. God of War and Last of Us, known for being real system pushers, looked noticeably fuzzy at times. There were also some pretty big initial load times.

The opening load time on The Last of Us, known for being pretty epic, came out to a minute and thirty seconds, according to my iPhone's stopwatch. That could be due to the internet being slammed by convention-goers, or just the early nature of the Now service. Either way I'm hoping performance improves by the time its opened to the public.

The cloud advantage

While latency could be an issue, Sony is saying that a 5 Mbps connection is all that's required for PlayStation Now. Basically, if your internet connection can support Netflix, Now shouldn't be a problem.

And having your data up in the cloud will mean your saves will follow you across your devices, wherever you choose to log in from.

You'll also never need to worry about patching, since the server will always be dishing up the latest version.

A lot is up in the air

Even though Sony was letting people try the service, there's still a lot it won't say about PlayStation Now. First, there's the price.

Sony has said that users will be able to choose between subscription and per title pay-to-play rentals. It hasn't said how any of that will be priced, or if subscriptions will provide unlimited play, or be tied somehow to PS Plus.

Also, Sony has yet to divulge what games will be available at launch, or down the line. Reps at CES couldn't even confirm that the four titles at the demo would be ready to stream. They also wouldn't say anything about PlayStation 2 and original PlayStation games, just that they were "a possibility."

Early verdict

Despite all the unknowns and the graphical half step backwards, PlayStation Now is one of the most exciting bits of gaming news to come out of CES. As a life-long gamer, I sorely miss backwards compatibility. Having Sony's amazing back catalog at my disposal would be incredible, especially for a flat fee.

This could be the HBO GO of video games, and I'm excited to hear more about the lineup, and when I'll be able to play The Last of Us on my Vita. Sony has a closed beta planned for the end of January; expect more news once that kicks off.

Steam Controller

It's hard to believe how fast time passes. I can still remember the clamor and speculation the day Valve first announced it was not only producing its own operating system based on Linux and a line of gaming PCs - called Steam Machines - but would release its own controller as well.

Like the original designs for the Steam Controller, SteamOS was interesting, if a little confusing at first. It's been over two years since that day, and in that time we've seen exactly one Steam Machine come to market (the Alienware Alpha) with 14 more en route for the holidays.

The delay has been upsetting, to say the least. If Valve intends to follow through with its plans for a controller, it will have to strike soon. Valve is on a deadline.

It's not all bad, though. The delayed release has given Valve time to refocus the controller, to redesign it with functionality - rather than novelty - in mind.

Design

Where the original version we saw had four square center buttons and lacked face buttons, the latest (and what Valve is calling the final design) is reverse. The gamepad has 13 buttons, with seven on the front face and six in the rear.

The front left is loaded with a control stick and haptic feedback-enabled touchpad, while the right side sports four face buttons - A, B, X and Y - as well as another touchpad. In the middle are the Steam jewel, start and back buttons.

The vast majority of the controller's face is dominated by two circular pads, wired for haptic feedback. The left pad, inscribed with a d-pad, could be used for custom commands - calling in airstrikes in Battlefield, for example - while the right stick seems solely used for looking around.

Spin it around to the back and you'll find a set of mushy triggers, two bumpers and a hidden set of buttons where your fingers rest on the inside of the wings. The latter are something commonly found on aftermarket controllers from PDP or Mad Catz, but never in first-party pads.

What they might do, however, is a complete mystery. They could just be nothing more than another set of inputs. But the best guess I have so far is that they could serve as a set of programmable macro buttons used to quickly access a string of commands.

Performance

During a closed-door demo at GDC 2015, I was able to play the pre-alpha version of the new Unreal Tournament using the controller.

Surprisingly, the controller fared better than expected. Using a touchpad to aim instead of a second stick took some getting used to, but with the help of what I believe was auto-aim assistance, I pulled through the fight with a slightly positive kill-to-death ratio.

It wasn't perfect, however, and definitely didn't have the same intuitive feel that an original PlayStation controller had all those years ago.

Of course, one issue with my experience could've been the sensitivity on the right thumbpad. The sensitivity was cranked up to one of its highest settings at the beginning of the match, causing me to whip around left and right with the lightest touch. Once adjusted, it started to feel better and I started to rack up a kill or two to make up for the lost time.

I left feeling that the Steam Controller perhaps isn't suited for shooters like Unreal Tournament and that its greatest strengths - its touchpads - still lie untapped because developers are shoehorning old control schemes into a new product.

Crowdsourcing control

While Valve's Steam Controller will likely be better suited to certain genres over others, that doesn't mean that someone won't come up with something brilliant and game changing.

When the Steam Controller launches, players will be able to create their own custom control schemes, save them to their Steam profiles, export and share them with the Steam Community. Other Steamers will be able download these player-made setups, and Valve will highlight the most popular ones in the community.

It could be that a fan-made setup will beat out an official one. How's that for player feedback?

This also removes the impetus from developers to come up with the best control scheme right out of the gate - a boon for them while we're all still getting used to the new technology.

Is the Steam Machine revolution still on schedule?

Quite frankly? No. But while it's disappointing to see delay after delay, the extra time in the oven has only helped the final product. (And hey, at least we have a release window.)

Using this version of the Steam Controller for a first-person shooter felt better than I had expected, though there's still some tweaking to be done before we see the final product.

That said, the additional buttons along the bottom of the controller may prove useful for increasing or decreasing look sensitivity in-game or doing something completely unpredictable.

There's still plenty of work to go before the full systems launch in November 2015, but each outing brings with it another improvement. That said, what you see here is awfully close to what will ship this autumn, I'm told. So, if you don't dig it now, your mind may already be made up.

Early verdict

The Steam Controller is a living, changing peripheral that's just as likely to change the way you game as it is to frustrate you when using it for the first time.

A mix of slightly quirky design tweaks, like underside paddle buttons and more standard set of shoulder buttons, keep us on our toes. But at the same time, the design overall trends closer and closer to something we've seen before.

However, if it can't compete with the mouse and keyboard, there's no way the Steam Controller will become the standard input (or even an ideal alternative) for PC gaming in the living room. If that's the case, either PC gaming will remain at the desk or the mouse and keyboard will find a way to fit in on the couch.

The only thing that's certain, at this point at least, is Valve is willing to think outside of the (orange) box.